My Life at UA
by konatakonata
Summary: Hannah is just a girl with aspirations of becoming a Hero. After being accepted into the best Hero training school in the nation, Hannah deals with the trials and tribulations of being a Hero-in-Training, along with all the stresses of being a teenager.
1. An Experience We'll Never Forget

Chapter 1: Beginnings

"Remind me, what were we supposed to grab again?" My best friend, Yumi, asked me.

"Ugh, you are so forgetful!" I reply, slightly annoyed. My long, blonde hair was flung into my face by a strong breeze. I should've put it up in a pony-tail.

"Hannah, that's why I have you around, remember?" She giggled.

"If my memory serves me correctly, and I know it does, I was the one who approached first." I gently punched her shoulder. We were walking into town to grab some ingredients for my mom, so that she could cook some dinner.

"Anyway, I don't trust you with the money, so I'll get everything we need," I snarked at her and opened the door to our favorite convience store in Musutafu. Yumi stuck her tongue out at me and waited at the door.

Yumi and I had been friends since grade school. We met on the playground one day and have really been inseparable since. It really shouldn't have worked, considering our Quirks are kind of polar opposites.

By the time we met, mine had already developed. I can build and store electrical energy and discharge it whenever I pleased. I eventually learned to channel this energy into my muscles, which enhances my physical strength, giving me an edge in hand-to-hand combat.

Yumi, on the other hand, can manipulate the water vapor in the air to form solid objects. Whether it be a cup, a chair, or if the need arises, swords or shields, they work. And despite being made of water, they function just as well their non-water counterparts. Just ask her about the time she hit a home run with a baseball bat made of water.

I grabbed the few things we needed and walked to the cashier, a nice, elderly man who looked to be in his late 60s. My mom and I come here so often, he's basically a friend of the family, and so greeted me with a warm smile.

"Sato-san, nice to see you again," he said as a smirk appeared on his face.

"Ha ha, very funny Touma. I thought I told you to stop greeting me so formally."

"Well, it clearly gets under your skin, so I'm going to have to formally decline."

"Smartass. How much?" I asked, getting my change-purse out and ready. "¥1,663."

"Wow, that's a bit expensive, is it?" I ask as I hand him the money. "You're lucky I'm working part-time now." He gives a light chuckle.

"It could be more expensive if you want it to be. Consider it a discount." He gives me a bag to put the ingredients into and gives me my change back. "Tell your mother that I said hello for me," he called to me.

"Don't worry, I will. See you around," I said as I walked back outside where Yumi was leaning up against the wall. Her shoulder-length jet black hair flowed in the breeze of a crisp afternoon. I pulled something out of the bag and tapped her on the shoulder with it.

She looked at me and, with child-like enthusiasm and the expression to go with it, grabbed the chocolate bar out of my hand. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I watched as she tore it out of its wrapper and nearly ate it whole.

I shook my head. "You really need to cut back on the sugar, girl. You know what it does to you." She looked at me as if I just suggested she kick a cat.

"Yea, so... I just love chocolate!" She replied, as she finished off the last of the now former chocolate bar. "It's not like you love sweets as much as me."

"Yes, that's true. But at least my love of sweets doesn't interfere with my Quirk." That's the trade-off of Yumi's Quirk. She needs to focus to use it and when she's hopped up on sweets, she tends to bounce of the walls.

"Yea, yea, I know how my Quirk works!" She gently punched my shoulder as we started heading back to my house.

Suddenly, explosions rocked through the neighborhood, the vibrations of which made standing difficult. Yumi and I held onto each other for support and we looked at each other.

"What the hell was that?" she asked.

"An explosion? Something must have happened. Let's go see if anyone needs help!" Forgetting about the ingredients, I dropped the bag and ran in the direction of the explosion, my legs moving on their own. Yumi followed closely behind.

"Do you even have a plan?!" she yelled.

"No, not really! I just want to see if I can help in any way!"

"We should let the Pro Heroes take care of it!" I could see people gathering where I presumed the explosion was. I joined the quickly gathering crowd and looked on in horror as some kind of sludge villian was fighting against a group of Heroes. I quickly recognized Death Arm and Kamui Woods. Mt. Lady was down at the other end of the street, protecting another group of people. But I couldn't see All Might anywhere. Where was he?

Yumi caught up and covered her mouth with her hands. "I think it's caught someone!" she yelled. I looked closer and saw she was right. There was a boy about my age with spiky, blonde hair and red eyes. He was almost completely engulfed by the sludge, only his eyes and nose still visible.

He managed to look towards the crowd. I could see his eyes, pleading for help. I was getting ready to channel some electricity into my legs, to try and help in some way, but before I could, a boy with messy green hair, wearing a black school uniform and red sneakers ran out of the crowd and charged towards the villian, to the shock of everyone there, including the Heroes.

He tossed his bag at the sludge monster, a book flying out and hitting it in the eye, causing it to recoil. He ran up to the monster and started clawing at it, but it being made of sludge, the boy wasn't able to make a dent.

The monster recovered and took a swing at the boy, but suddenly there was an explosion of dust and rock. Yumi and I covered our faces, pieces of road landing nearby. When we looked back, I couldn't help but cry out in awe.

All Might was here! He had stopped the monsters attack and protected the boy. He grabbed the boy that was engulfed in the sludge and pulled him out like it was nothing. As he did that, he unleashed his famous Detroit Smash, completely obliterating the monster and sending a rush of wind throughout the area.

It suddenly started raining, and it was at this point we all realized that with one single punch, All Might changed the weather. It left Yumi and I in awe, and the best we could do was stand there with our eyes wide and mouths open. We cheered along with the crowd as All Might raised his fist and looked back at us with his trademark smile, and we realized that we just saw the world's greatest Hero, the Symbol of Peace himself, in action. It was a day both of us never thought would come.

Yumi was the first to come back to Earth. She gently tapped me on the shoulder. "Hannah?" No answer. "Hannah?" I startled slightly and wiped away some drool that had begun to drip from my mouth.

"Huh, what? Oh, sorry." She laughed and looked back at me.

"Sorry? Why are you sorry? We just saw All Might in action. You have every right to fangirl."

"I wasn't fangirling," I retorted, blushing slightly.

"Yep, totally," she laughed. "Let's go pick up the groceries and head home." We walked back towards the store where we originally picked up the ingredients for dinner. Fortunately, no one had taken them. The time it took to get back home seemed to go by in a second, and before I knew it we were walking in the front door with smiles on our faces. My mom was in the kitchen preparing to make dinner and she turned to us.

"Oh, hey girls. Are you okay? I thought I heard explosions!" I nodded my head, eager to tell her our experience.

"Yea, we're okay. Mom... you won't believe what happened."


	2. Training To Be Our Best

One of the goals of any aspiring Hero was to be accepted into U.A. High School. It wasn't the only Hero school in the country, but it was certainly the most famous, being the alma mater of the Symbol of Peace himself, All Might. If you got accepted there, you're well on your way to becoming a Pro Hero.

I quickly dodged a kick that flew through the space that my head used to occupy. I counter into a leg sweep that is easily jumped over. I scramble back to an upright position, and block a left hook, only to get a jab to the gut. I let out a pained grunt and fall forward to my hands and knees, trying hard to not cough up a lung. I feel a foot get placed onto my back and I look up at my victorious opponent.

"I win again!" Yumi gloats. She raises her arms and is cheered by the imaginary crowd in her head.

"Yea, yea. Could you get your foot off my back and help me up?" I asked, still trying to recover my breath.

"Just a few more seconds," she smirked. She doesn't realize that from this position I could easily counter into a kneebar that would have her crying in seconds. I'm too nice of a person though.

She eventually gets off me and offers me her hand. I take it and walk over to where I'd placed my water bottle. I take the top off and take a nice, needed drink. "You know, you could ease up a little with the punches," I offer to her.

"Hmm, I could, but what's the point of training if you're not going to give your all." She's got a good point there. She walks over to me, picks up her bottle and takes a drink.

"Yes, you have a point. But you have to remember. You've been taking martial arts classes since you were five. Because of that, I came to you so you can help me train. I'm not as experienced or as good as you are."

"That may be, but look how good you've gotten. You're almost able to beat me without using your Quirk. Almost." She couldn't help but add in that last bit, just to tease me. It was true, though. When we first started training together, I had to resort to using my Quirk to get the upper hand. Now, after just a few months, I'm just about able to hold my own against her without it.

We'd started training slightly more often than usual, and that was because the U.A. Entrance Exams were starting with the next month. It was all Yumi would wanna talk about in school, even if I tried changing the subject. She'd been waiting for this longer than anyone I know, and I've been there beside her the whole time, just as excited as she was, but at least I wasn't the one drawing everyone's attention during lunch and embarrassing her friend.

"Speaking of getting better, how's it coming with your Quirk? You know they're probably going to test us in that regard for the Exams,"I asked her.

"Of course! I'm not a slacker." She falters slightly when I give her a questioning look. "Okay, I am. But this is far too important for me to just slack off." As if to emphasize her point, she quickly creates a small ball of water, and starts bouncing it off the ground. A moment later, she releases her control of the ball and it evaporates back into water vapor.

She turns to me. "What about you? I know you're no slacker." I smile and hold my hand up and activate my Quirk. My hand starts emitting small, blue streaks of electricity. She watched as I switch it between all my fingers, down into my leg and back up in my arm.

"Trust me, I've been working on it even if I'm not using it against you anymore." I pull charge into my finger and flick her in the shoulder.

"Ow! Hey, that hurt!" She rubs her shoulder where I flicked her and looked at me with a slightly annoyed expression on her face. I look away, trying to play innocent and whistle a tune. I look back and give her my trademark mischievious grin.

"You pull that grin off so much, you may as well be All Might Lite," she quipped. She stood up and stretched. "Welp, you ready to go for another round?"

I put down my bottle and gave her a confident smirk. "You're on."

Before we knew it, the Exams were here. Yumi and I, dressed warmly due to the cool morning air, stood outside the doors of U.A. High School. Both of us were in awe, not as much as when we say All Might fight, but that fact that we were here, actually here, in front of U.A. was amazing.

"I can't believe we're here," Yumi said, basically reading my mind.

"I know. All our hard work leads up to this. Are you ready for this?" I asked and looked over at her.

She gave me a smile and a thumbs up. "Of course, I am. Like you said, all of our hard work led up to this. There's not way I'm backing down now."

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of something green over to my right. I looked over and recognition sparked in my head. I tapped Yumi on her shoulder.

"Hey, isn't that the kid who ran up to that sludge villian to try and save his friend a few months ago?" I pointed toward a boy with messy, green hair. Yumi looked where I was pointing.

"Yea, looks like it. Although I didn't see his face then, so I'm not sure." He was freaking out about something as a blonde haired kid walked by. He turned around and watched him walk off. "Hey, I recognize him too, I think he was the one who got caught by the villian."

"It doesn't seem like they're on very good terms, though," I added. "Blondie just walked by without even acknowledging him. You'd think he'd be a little more grateful towards someone who tried to save him."

We watched as the green-haired boy turned to walk inside and both gasped as he tripped on his own feet. We weren't close enough to try and catch him, but thankfully, a girl with brown, shoulder-length hair managed to catch him. Well, she didn't really catch him, as much as she touched his backpack and he started floating gently. She picked him up like it was nothing and placed him upright on his feet.

"He must not be good with women," Yumi whispered to me. "He's practically melting just being around her." I had guessed the same thing. The girl waved goodbye and walked inside. The boy followed shortly after.

"We should get inside too, I'm getting chilly." Yumi started walking inside, but stopped when she realized I hadn't followed her. She walked back over to me and waved a hand in my face. "Helloooo, anybody home?" I jumped and shook my head slightly.

"Staring at him, weren't ya?" she teased. I blushed and shook my head vigorously.

"N-no, why would I be staring at him, hehe?" I rubbed the back of my head, knowing I had been caught red-handed.

"Yep, you totally weren't. Come on, I'm starting to freeze."

We got inside and were directed to the auditorium. It was huge, much bigger than the one at our Junior High. We picked our seats and sat down, waiting for everyone to file in.

When everyone was settled, a large U.A. logo appeared on the giant screen in the front of the room, and a tall, slender man with long, spiky blonde hair appeared on stage.

"Is that a speaker around his neck?" Yumi asked.

"What's up, U.A. candidates? Thanks for tuning in to me, your school D.J.!" He threw his hands up in the air. "Come on and let me hear ya!" You could hear a pin drop. The silence was incredibly awkward.

"Keeping it mellow, huh? That's fine. I'll skip straight to the main show. Let's talk about how this practical exam's gonna go down, okay?"

"Like your applications said, today you rockin' boys 'n' girls will be out there conducting two heated mock battles in super hip urban settings!"

"After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle center, sound good?" More silence. Enough with the awkward silence! I looked at the card we were given at the door.

"Mine says B, what about you?"

Yumi showed me her card and feigned a sad face. "I'm in A."

"Argg, so close. They must be splitting us up so we can't work our friends or something," I said jokingly.

"Aww, now what am I gonna do without you taking everything down with me?" She pouted as she said this. I chuckled and messed up her hair playfully. "Hey!"

"Oh, you'll do fine without me. We just have to do our best." She grumbled at me as she tried to fix her hair.

The guy on stage then talked about robots that we had to defeat, each being with a different points value. The harder the robot, the more points it's worth. Another student brought up that on the form we were given, there were four kinds of enemies, instead of three that were talked about.

"The fourth villian type is worth 0 points! That guy's just an obstacle we'll be throwing in your way. There's one in every battle center, think of it as a hurdle you should try to avoid. It's not that it can't be beaten, but there's... kinda no point."

The rest of the show went on without interruption. Afterwards, we were ushed out of the auditorium and given the chance to change into our training outfits. Yumi and I gave each other good luck, said our goodbyes and got onto our respective buses that will bring our groups to their specified battle center.

Once my bus stopped, we got out and stood outside the door. It was huge, and there was a wall surrounding the entire city. I tried to see if I recognized anyone in my group. To my surprise, I saw the boy with the green hair and the girl who had saved him from eating the pavement. I blushed slightly upon seeing that he was in my group.

"I wish I had more time to think of a strategy," I said to myself. I'd have to think it up on the fly. The gates were about to open, and the rush was about to begin.


	3. Teaming up for the fight

**Alright, new chapter is up. If you like, please follow for more story updates, and if you'd like, please leave a review :)**

* * *

"Hey, over there. That's the guy who almost bit it out front earlier," someone said.

"He practically wet himself in the lecture hall" said someone else.

"Dude, what a loser. But one less rival to worry about, I guess."

I was lost in thought for a second, thinking about how I was going to play this, but hearing this brought me back to Earth. I looked around and saw everyone was looking at that boy with the green hair. I should really ask him his name sometime. He was hanging his shoulders and looking at the ground. He looked like he was about to cry. I really felt bad for him.

"Right, let's start!" The voice rang from nowhere, but eventually we picked out where it had come from. The guy from the auditorium was on top of some kind of viewing box. It was so high up in the air, I could feel myself getting dizzy just from the thought of it.

"Get moving! There are no countdowns in real battles! Run, run, run listeners! You're wasting airtime here!"

I quickly realized he was right. I turned on my heel and ran through the now open gate. Unfortunately, I was one of the last to realize the door was open, as I was at the back of the group. I looked behind me and saw that boy again. He must've been caught off guard more than I was, which was a feat unto itself.

Suddenly, a robot smashed through the building to his right, just in front of him. He slid to a stop with a surprised and horrified look on his face.

"Looks like a 1-pointer," I though to myself. I stopped and looked back towards the others. They were a good deal down the road, and I could feel vibrations through the ground. "Seems like they've met the enemy down there too."

"Target acquired. Commencing attack," said the robot. I turned around and saw it was charging him. It was too fast for him to do anything. I could tell he wanted to dodge its attack, or at least run. The look on his face said it all. But he didn't move. His feet wouldn't let him.

"Crap, he's frozen." I quickly charged my legs and bolted as fast as I could to his aid, leaving a small crater in the ground. The robot reached him and prepared to attack. I charged up my arms, made a desperate lunge and managed to get in between them, blocking the robots attack. The force of the attack was so great, that it cracked the ground where I stood. I grunted in pain as my hands and arms took the brunt of the attack.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. He could do nothing but nod his head. "You may want to stand back." I turned my attention back to the robot. I gave my arms more charge, and almost effortlessly tore its arm off. I set my footing, and tossed the robots arm back at it with force, slicing through it and completely destroying the threat.

I deactivated my Quirk and almost fell to the ground, putting my hands on my knees and trying to recover my breath. I haven't had to use that much energy before, the toll it took on my body was worse than I thought it would be.

I turned around to look at the boy. He had fallen to the ground when I finished off the robot. We looked at each other for about ten seconds, before we realized that we were basically just staring at each other. We both blushed heavily, and he started to look for something else to look at. I offered him my hand.

"Here, need a hand?" I asked him. He blushed more and shakily took my hand. I winced in pain as he did so.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?!" he asked.

"No, I'm fine. I've just never taken a hit like that. If it wasn't for my Quirk, I would've been squished like a bug." I looked at him, and saw genuine concern in his eyes. I blushed again and looked away.

"I'll be fine." I grinned at him. "There can't be that much time left in the exam. What do you say we team up? We'd have more luck against more difficult enemies if we come upon them." He looked at me for a few seconds, as if processing what I'd said.

"W-W-What?! I mean, I'd love to, b-but we don't even k-know each others n-names, or each others Q-Quirks..." I was taken aback slightly at the outburst. He really must not be good around girls. Once he calmed down, he started mumbling to himself, so much that I swear I could see the words spilling from his mouth.

'H-hey." I tapped him on the shoulder, which caused him to jump like I'd appeared from nowhere. I had to bite my tongue to keep myself with giggling. "Do you want to team or not? We don't have much time."

He looked at me and blushed lightly. "Y-Yea, lets go." He was still shaking slighty, but I assumed that was just the adrenaline.

"Let's see. Everyone ahead of us has aready gotten most of the enemies, and there can't be many more left. So, our best bet would be to jump right in, I guess." We took off towards the others, and quickly saw the destroyed remains of dozens, hundreds of robots.

"Oh man, are there even any left?" he asked.

Before I could even answer, there was a huge explosion. Dust and debris filled the street. Everyone stopped and stood where they were, looking up the street at something that I couldn't see due to all the dust.

Then the dust cleared, and I could feel the color leave my face. The robot was huge, taller than most of the buildings in the city. It placed a hand on a building and casually crushed it like it was nothing.

"A 0-pointer," I stated, my voice wavering. I remembered what the guy on stage had told us before. A hurdle we should try to avoid, he said. I looked over at the boy, fear plastered on his face.

The robot suddenly swung at the ground, it's fist colliding with the concrete like a bomb. The wind generated swept through the streets, whipping up more dust and debris. I covered my face, small rocks hitting my hands and chunks of the street landing nearby. I looked over at the boy, and looked back at me. It seemed we had the same idea, and we both turned on our heels and prepared to run the other direction.

"Owww!"

We both stopped in our tracks and again lookedat each other. Realization struck us and we looked back at the robot. The debris from the building it had crushed had fallen across the street. Amongst the rubble, we saw a girl with short, brown hair and brown eyes. I immediately recognized her as the girl who had saved the boy from falling earlier that morning. Her leg was pinned by the debris, and she was struggling to free herself.

I suddenly saw a flash of green hair streak by me. "Hey, what are you doing?! You can't just run at it!" I shook my head in silent wonderment and charged in after him.

I ran up to girl who was trapped. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"My leg. It's stuck," she replied, in obvious pain.

"It'll be alright, just hold on." I charged up my arms, and started moving away some of the debris. Soon enough, I had moved away enough rubble for her to pull herself free. I helped her up and supported her weight as we made our way back towards the group.

I stopped for a second and looked back. I watched in awe as the boy crouched and then seemingly disappeared. The trail of dust betrayed his location as he quickly flew up to the robots face. He wound his arm all the way back, his arm starting glow.

"SMAAAAAAAASSSSSHHHH!" He took his shot, the impact of his punch sending the robot flying into pieces. It slowly fell to Earth and landed with a giant thud. Everyone watched in utter amazement. This kid, nobody thought much of him. Everyone took him for granted. I smiled, and realized that he'd earned not only my respect, but the respect of everyone around him.

"Just one minute left!"

I looked up in shock. I had forgotten about the time limit. There was only one minute left and I only had 1 point to my name. Oh man, what am I going to do?

I looked up and realized that the boy didn't have a way down. He was in a freefall with no way to stop. He was going to hit the ground and go splat. The thought alone sickened me.

"Let me go," said the girl on my shoulder. I looked at her in disbelief.

"What? But you're hurt!"

"Help me, I have a plan!" She pointed towards a piece of the robot. "If I can use that to float to him, I can touch him and save him."

"Are you sure you can do that?" I asked her.

"Just do it!" I quickly helped her over to a big enough piece of robot and laid her on top of it. She placed all five fingers against it and it suddenly started floating. It took me a little by surprise that something so big could be floated so easily.

I looked up for the boy and realized we didn't have much time. Both his legs and his right arm were flopping around uselessly, as if he didn't have use of them anymore. It looked like he was getting ready to punch the ground with his good arm. I looked back at her and she quickly made her way to where he was going to land. If she didn't make it in time, it was going to be ugly.

Fortunately, she made it just in time, inadvertently slapping him in the face. Shortly afterwards, he started gently floating, just the piece of robot the girl was using. The strain was evident on her face, having to float such a massive weight couldn't have been easy.

"And, release," she pressed her fingers together and both her, the robot piece and the boy flopped to the ground. She laid her head over the side and proceeded to be violently sick.

"Time's up!" yelled the Stage Guy. A siren started to sound, signaling the end of the practical exam. My heart sunk, knowing that my 1 point was nowhere near enough to pass. I couldn't stop the tears and I knew that my one chance to get into U.A. was gone.

The adrenaline that had been pumping through my body for the last, who knows how long, ceased and it was now that I realized how much pain I was in, how tired I was. Just the act of sitting down on the curb was enough to send waves of pain throughout my body.

"Very nice, good work all around. You're heroes in my eyes, every one of you." I looked up and noticed a short, elderly woman walking towards us. She rummaged around in her pocket and took something out. "Here, reward yourselves. Have some gummies." She gave them to someone in the group. "Don't eat them all at once, okay?"

She walked up to the boy with the green hair. "Oh my goodness! You were hurt this badly by your own Quirk, sonny?" She puckered her lips and kissed him on the head.

"Umm, what's she doing?" someone asked.

"You're watching a school nurse in action. The youthful Heroine, Recovery Girl." I gasped. That's Recovery Girl? I had heard about her in the news, but I didn't think she'd be so short. "Her Quirk is a big boost of healing power. She's the only reason U.A. can hold these reckless exams. Look, she's saving him months of recovery time."

He's right. I watched as his arms and legs magically healed themselves in seconds, untwisting themselves from the disturbing angles they were once in.

"Alright, you'll be fine now. Anyone else injured?"

I didn't escape the exams unharmed, either. Turns out that I had a fractured wrist, most likely from taking the full brunt of that robots attack while protecting that boy. I still never asked his name. I made a mental note to ask him if I ever saw him again.

It had been a week since the exams. I came home with a small brace on my wrist and my mother flipped out, asking me all these questions. "What happened? Who did it? Who's head do I need to bash in?" I explained to her what happened, and she calmed down slightly.

I called Yumi after I had got home, and we talked about what happened in our exams. I told her about what happened and her response was way more positive.

"Whoa, Hannah threw herself in harm's way to protect someone?! Do you know who is was?"

"No, I never asked his name." As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized my mistake.

She gasped. "It was a boy?!" I swear I could her her smirk. "Was it that boy with the green hair you were staring at before?"

"S-shut up! No, it w-wasn't! It's not l-like that anyway!" The blush on my face was evident. I always hated it when she's like that. I think she likes embarrassing me.

"Yep, totally."

"It wasn't!"

"I believe you, Hannah!" No, you don't, you lier.

Some time after, as I was getting ready for bed, my mom rushed into my room carrying what looked like an envelope. It looked like it had a red rose sticker of some sort holding it closed.

"Hannah, it's here! You're test results from U.A.!" My heart dropped. I wasn't ready for this moment. I hadn't told my mom that I basically flopped on the mock battle. I didn't want to break her heart, but I knew that this was coming, one way or another.

I grabbed the envelope that my mom handed me. I could feel my heart start pounding faster. I opened it slowly, and inside was what looked like a small, metal disk.

"Huh? What's this?" I took it out and looked at it. As luck would have it, it slipped out of my hand and landed on my desk, where it started to glow.

"Booyah, I am here as a projection now!" Suddenly, All Might's face appeared from out of nowhere. It scared me so badly that I nearly fall backwards out of my chair, and my mom nearly had a heart attack.

"All Might?! But isn't this from U.A.?!" If All Might was working for U.A., I thought I would've heard about it by now.

"A good question, young woman. The truth is, I didn't come to this city just to fight villains. You're looking at the newest U.A. faculty member!"

I gasped audibly. "You're seriously going to be working at U.A.?!"

"Yes, but that's not what I am here to talk about, now is it?" He gave me his trademark smile. I guess Yumi wasn't kidding about the All Might Lite thing.

"Moving on. Even though you passed the written test, you got only 1 combat point in the practical exam. I'm sorry." I looked down at my lap. Yes, I'm painfully aware of that. My mom gripped my shoulder tightly. I can't imagine the look on her face right now.

"Fortunately, there were other factors." I looked back up at the All Might projection.

"Other factors?" I asked.

"You see, the practical exam was not graded on combat alone. How could a Hero course reject someone who is committed to saving others, no matter the consequences to herself? After all, that is what makes a Hero. And that's what my alma mater is all about. Training those who would risk their lives for the greater good. So, we have rescue points! A panel of judges watches, and they award points for Heroic acts beyond just fighting villians."

As he was speaking, footage of me saving that boy was playing, along with us saving that girl from the robot and me helping the girl save the boy from his fall. I could feel the tears coming, and I realized what was coming next.

"Hannah Sato, 50 rescue points! Izuku Midoriya, 60 rescue points! And Ochako Uraraka, 45 rescue points!"

"You all passed the exam." He held out his hand, although I obviously couldn't take hold of it. "Welcome, Hannah. You've made it. You're now part of the Hero Academia." I sat there, in utter shock.

Every day for the past week, I was under the impression that I was going to fail. The tears flowed down my face, uncontrolled and I sobbed and screamed into my mothers shoulder. Tears of joy. I'd heard that phrase so much beforehand, but now I understood it.

"My baby's going to U.A.!" my mom screamed, as if she wanted to entire neightborhood to know.

Eventually, she let me go, and went downstairs to call everyone she knew. I sat on my bed and called Yumi, telling her the news. To my delight, she'd been accepted too. We cried and laughed on the phone together until she fell asleep.

I laid awake in bed late into the night, my mind too excited to fall asleep. The events of the exam and earlier that night kept replaying in my head, over and over. I was going to the school of my dreams, to become a real Hero.

Safe to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.


	4. Time to Meet the Class

The weeks immediately following the exams seemed to just fly by. Most of that time was filled by paperwork (mostly taken care of by my mom). Most of my time revolved around hanging out with Yumi and training with my Quirk. I noticed during the practical exam that while I could use my Quirk fine and had control over it, it left me feeling pretty tired afterwards. I had a feeling that wouldn't go very well in U.A.

I looked at myself in the mirror as I brushed my teeth, lost in thought. I wondered how the first day was going to go. The first day, in my experience anyway, was usually the easiest day of the entire year. I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be like that, especially at U.A.

I jumped slightly as another toothbrush poked me in the cheek. I nearly choke on toothpaste and took a look over at the poker, my best friend Yumi. She had spent the night, telling me that is was so she wouldn't oversleep. I think she just likes the free food and central air. She gives me a mischievous grin.

"Having second thoughs?" she asks.

"Of course not. That's not to say my heart isn't in my throat right now."

"You'll do fine. You ended with one of the highest scores in the exams."

"That doesn't help! It just means that there'll be more expectations placed on me!"

She leaned forward and spit into the sink. "Look, as long as you try your best and don't listen to the haters, you'll do just fine." She patted me on the back, causing me to almost choke again. I glare at her, slightly annoyed. I reached up and started messing up her hair, earning an immediate growl.

She knocks my hand away. "I thought I told you to not mess with my hair!"

"Oh, hush. You just woke up and it was already messed up, what's a little messing with going to do to it?" I feigned innocence and spit into the sink.

Before she could fire back, my mom chimed in from downstairs. "Girls, breakfast is ready. Come on down or you'll be late."

"Coming!" We hurriedly finished up and made our way downstairs. In the corner by the front door, our backpacks were neatly packed and ready to go, no doubt courtesy of my mom. On the table, two plates of eggs, bacon and toast. We quickly finished eating and headed out the door, my mom bidding us farewell.

The walk from home to the U.A. campus wasn't as long as I originally thought it would be. The main building came within our sight in just a few minutes, and a couple minutes later, we were standing just in front of the gate. There were still students walking in the front doors, so we weren't as late as we thought.

Yumi and I had both been placed into Class 1-A, much to our delight. We walked in and tried to find our homeroom. As we walked, we took notice of how large the doors were. It was as if the school had been made for giants. Seriously, they were three times my size, it was insane!

I could hear Yumi beside me muttering repeatedly, "3-A, 3-A, 3-A."

I calmly corrected her, "1-A. Nervous?" She looked over at me.

"Yeah, a little. You?" I nodded. Who wouldn't be nervous on their first day at the world's greatest Hero school.

We rounded the corner and saw a couple students standing in front of a classroom. I looked up at the sign above the door, and tapped Yumi on the shoulder.

"We're here." The students were standing in front of Class 1-A. They were our classmates.

I immediately recognized a few of them, most notably the boy and girl I met during the practical exam! I could feel my cheeks heat up when I looked at him. They were talking to each other, although it looked rather one-sided. His face was completely red and he looked as though he was about to pass out.

As we approached, the girl noticed us, gasped and hopped up and down in glee.

"Oh my god, it's you! You're the one who helped save me from the giant robot!" She ran up to me and gave me a rather tight hug. I could feel my blush spreading across my face.

She released me and looked apologetic. "Oh sorry, where are my manners?" She bowed to me. "I'm Ochaco Uraraka. It's nice to meet you!" I smiled and bowed in reply.

"Hannah Sato, nice to meet you too, Ochako." Yumi bowed to her next.

"Yumi Ito." She smiled and stood back up. "So, ole' Hannah actually saved you, huh? Normally, she can't even save herself from falling out of bed." That remark earned her a smack upside her head and a giggle from Ochako.

I felt a pair of eyes on me, and found the source relatively quickly. The boy beside Ochako had been staring at me, and when I caught him, he blushed even more than he already was and looked away quickly. I turned to him and bowed, myself blushing madly.

"N-Nice to meet you. I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to properly meet before," I said to him, a nervous laugh escaping my lips.

"Huh? Oh, n-no need to a-apologize," he replied and quickly bowed back to me. "I'm I-Izuku Midoriya. T-Thank you for s-saving me during the exam, H-Hannah." He gave me a nervous smile. I smiled back at him, glad that I finally knew his name.

We quickly stood back up when we heard a voice. "If you're just here to make friends, then you can pack up your stuff now."

We looked around for the source of the voice. Behind Ochako, a man with long, black hair had appeared on the ground. He was in what looked like a yellow sleeping bag, with ony his face visible. He had come out of nowhere, no one even heard him. We were all too stunned to really say anything.

"Welcome to UA's hero course." He unzipped the bag from the inside a little bit and took a sip from some sort of flask. He stood up and unzipped the bag fully, stepping out of it. He looked... worn out, unkempt, I guess was that best way to describe him. He was wearing a ragged long-sleeved shirt and matching pants that tucked into his boots, as well as a utility belt of some kind and what looked like a scarf, one that I'd never seen in the stores before.

"It took ten seconds before you all shut up. That's not gonna work. Time is precious. Rational students would understand that." He must be a Pro, although not one that I'd heard of before. I wonder if he's teaching here or something. He looked into the class, while also speaking to us in front of him.

"Hello, I'm Shota Aizawa. Your teacher." Oh, well, there's those questions answered, I though.

He walked inside the room and over to the closet, and grabbed what looked like P.E. clothes. "Right, let's get to it. Put these on and head outside."

All the students were sent the their respective lockers, boys and girls. I figured I should use this as a chance to get to know the girls in my class, at least a little.

I didn't even get a chance to talk to anyone before a girl with pink skin and hair and short horns ran up to me and gave me a hug.

"Hey there, I'm Mina Ashido. I heard you helped save Ochako during the practical exam." She let me and stood in front of me, waiting for my reply.

"Uhh, yea, I did. But I didn't do it by myself."

"Hush, that doesn't matter. You helped a friend of mine, so that automatically makes you my friend, too." She smiled at me.

"Oh, thank you. I'm glad." I gave her a friendly smile back.

"Mina, you not harassing people already, are you?" A girl with long, dark green hair, wide eyes and a wide mouth walked up to us. She almost looked like a frog.

"Oh, not at all, Asui. I was just welcoming her, that's all."

"I told you to call me Tsu." She turned to me. "I hope she's not causing you trouble. I'm Tsuyu Asui, but I prefer to be called Tsu by my friends."

"Oh no, she's fine, just being friendly. So does this mean we're friends now?"

"As long as you don't hurt me or my other friends, yes." Wow, I'm making friends much faster than I thought I would.

Soon after, I met a girl with purple hair and what looked like earphone jacks hanging from her earlobes, named Kyoka; an invisible girl who had inadventedly given me a heart attack, named Toru; and a girl with long black hair tied into a spiky ponytail, her name was Momo.

Once everyone was ready, we met up with Yumi and Ochako, who had waited outside the changing rooms for us. We grouped up and heading to the P.E. fields, and waited for the boys to show up.

After a bit, the boys finally showed up. Mr. Aizawa wasted no time, and told us why we were out here.

"What? A Quirk assessment test?!" questioned the class in unison.

Ochako chimed in, "But orientation! We're gonna miss it!"

"If you really wanna make the big leagues, you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies." Pointless? I had always really liked orientation in the past, I found it fun and excited. Then again, I'm not our homeroom teacher.

"Here at UA, we're not tethered to traditions. That means that I get to run my class however I see fit." A few of the others shifted uncomfortably. "You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives. But you never got to use your Quirks in physical exams before." He held up a phone or a tablet of some sort, I was a little too far to tell. It looked like it had names on it, I'm guessing ours.

"The country's still trying to pretend we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's not rational. One day, the Ministry of Education will learn." He turned to someone in the group.

"Bakugo, you managed to get the most points on the entrance exam. What was your farthest distance throw with a softball when you were in Junior High?" I looked over at Bakugo, a small flame of anger sparking inside me as I remembered seeing the terror and panic on Izuku's face, when Bakugo was just walking by him. The things he must have done in the past to that poor boy...

"Sixty-seven meters, I think," replied Bakugo.

"Right. Try doing it with your Quirk." Bakugo took the ball from Mr. Aizawa's hand and calmly walked into the circle for the throwing events in Track and Field. "Anything goes, just stay in the circle."

"All right, man, you asked for it." He stretched, and wound back just as a pitcher would. I wouldn't be surprised if he played for the team in Junior High.

When he threw the ball, it seemed as if it had just exploded into a huge ball of fire. We all watched as the ball kept going, and going, and going. It was incredible, he gave almost no effort and it looked like no one was going to be able to beat him.

"All of you need to know your maximum capabilities. It's the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero." The ball landed, and Mr. Aizawa held up the phone, which showed Bakugo's score.

"702.5 meters?!" I immediately covered my mouth and blushed. I wasn't meaning to say anything, but I was just so shocked that I couldn't help myself.

A few people in the group started saying that it looked like fun, and I had to agree. What harm could a little friendly competition bring?

Mr. Aizawa spoke up, "You have three years here to become a hero. You think it's all gonna be games and play time?

"Today, you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none, and will be expelled immediately." I choked on air. WHAT?! Immediate expulsion? My mother would kill me. This isn't a friendly competition anymore. I don't think it was ever supposed to be, either.

"Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs." Mr. Aizawa looked... relived, happy almost. Like he'd been waiting for this moment. "Understand? If that's a problem, you can head home right now."

There's no way I'm getting expelled on my first day, absolutely not. And there's no way I'm going home. I have to aim for the top.

I looked over at Izuku. He looked distraught, panicked almost. "Don't worry, Izuku." I said under my breath.

"You can do it. I know you can."


	5. Time to Steal the Show

Our homeroom teacher, Mr. Aizawa, had just informed us that we'd be competing in physical tests to gauge our potential. Then, he had to lay a bombshell on us, saying that who came last after the tests were over, would be immediately expelled. I, along with most of the class was completely floored.

Ochako was the first to speak up. "You can't send one of us home! I mean, we just got here! Even if it wasn't the first day, that isn't fair!"

"Oh, and you think natural disasters are?" Mr. Aizawa responded. "Or power-hungry villians? Or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No, the world is full of unfairness. It's a hero's job to try to combat that unfairness." He turned to us.

"If you wanna be a pro, you're gonna have to push yourself to the brink. For the next three years, UA will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So, go beyond. Plus Ultra-style." He crooked a finger at us.

"Show me it's no mistake that you're here." He's right. As blunt as he's been since we've met, his words have made sense. The world isn't going to wait for us to be ready, and certainly no villian is going to wait for us, either.

"Now then, we're just wasting time by talking. Let the games begin."

The first physical test was the 50-meter dash. Back in Junior High, I was part of the Girls Track team, so this where I excelled. I settled on using not too much of my Quirk. This is the first test of eight, after all.

We were paired up with others in the class, presumably for competitive reasons. As my luck tends to go, I got paired with Explosion-boy Bakugo. Yumi was paired with Izuku. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little jealous.

As Bakugo and I were called up to the line, I walked by Izuku and rested my hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly and looked at me. I gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Izuku. You'll do just fine."

He blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, u-uh... thank you, H-Hannah."

I walked up to the line and took my place in the starting blocks, next to Bakugo. I could feel the intensity just radiating off of him. I began preparing some charge in my legs, and waited to the start signal.

"Runners, on your marks. Ready-." A gunshot rung out and we were off. I got off to a headstart thanks to having my Quirk ready and was ahead at the 25-meter mark. Suddenly, I could hear explosions and I could certainly feel the heat. He must be using his Quirk, I thought. I kept my head down and charged to the line. I slowed and waited for the times to be read out.

"Hannah Sato. Four point one two seconds. Katsuki Bakugo. Four point one three seconds." I covered my mouth with my hands and was mobbed by the other girls, all of them both congratulatory and astounded with my time. I was easily one of the fastest girls.

I could feel a pair of eyes on me, and I turned around. I was suddenly face-to-face with a furious Bakugo. He looked like he'd literally explode, moreso than his Quirk allowed.

"How did you beat me?! Do you think you're better than me now?!" I jumped and subconsciously took a step back. "When we're done here, I'll show you that I'm better than everyone here!" He walked off, his pride definitely hurt. I already felt bad for whoever crossed his path next. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding in.

The race between Izuku and Yumi was pretty close. I wasn't sure who I wanted to win. In the end though, it was Yumi who edged ahead at the line.

"Yumi Ito. Six point eight nine seconds. Izuku Midoriya. Seven point zero two seconds." I was waiting at the line for them, and gave Yumi a high five when she reached me. Izuku stopped nearby and leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees.

"You alright, Izuku?" He nodded his head and gave me a thumbs up.

After that, the tests sorta just flew by. The fifth test was the Ball Throw. Literally, just throw a ball as far as you can. I figured I could let loose again, but I knew I couldn't get tops in this one, considering Ochako used her Quirk to get a score of infinity. So that best I could hope for was 2nd.

"Sato, you're up." Mr. Aizawa's words broke me out of my thoughts. I got up, and walked into the circle. I could hear Ochako and Yumi cheering me on. It brought a smile to my face. I'd never made friends this quickly in Junior High.

I charged up my arm, wound back, and let it rip. The ball flew from my hand and landed a few seconds later. My score popped up on Mr. Aizawa's phone.

"704 meters. Nice job, Sato."

"Thank you, Mr. Aizawa." I politely bowed to him, and returned to my seat next to Ochako and Izuku.

It was Izuku's turn next, both Ochako and I cheering him. He hasn't been doing very well in the tests, and I could see it on his face, that he was feeling the pressure.

A boy with blue hair and glasses spoke up. "If Midoriya doesn't shape up soon, he's the one going home."

"Huh? Of course he is. He's a Quirkless loser," Bakugo retorted. I wanted to slap him. Of course he has a Quirk, I saw it with my own eyes during the extrance exam. What could Bakugo be talking about?

Izuku wound back, his arm glowing like it did in the exam. He threw the ball, and... it landed just in front of him.

It measured at fourty-six meters. What just happened? The entire class was stunned. He looked down at his hands.

"What gives? I was trying to use it just now."

"I erased your Quirk." Everyone looked at Mr. Aizawa. His scarf was flying around now, and his hair was flying with it. "The judges for this exam were not rational enough. Someone like you should never be allowed to enroll at this school."

He did what to his Quirk? What gives him the right to even do that? How could anyone even do that?

As I looked at Mr. Aizawa more, I caught sight of what looked like gold goggles of some sort. I'm sure Izuku saw them at the same time I did, as he spoke up.

"Those goggles. I know you! You can look at someone and canel out their powers. The Erasure Hero. Eraser Head!" I recognized that name. I didn't know much about him, but I knew that he liked to stay out of the news, wherever possible. I couldn't blame him. They could be vicious at times.

"You're not ready," Mr. Aizawa continued. "You don't have control over your power. Were you planning to break your bones again? Counting on someone else to save your useless body?"

Izuku stepped forward a little. "No! That's not what I was trying to do!" Suddenly, Mr. Aizawa grabbed the scarf and slung it towards Izuku, wrapping it around him. It dragged the boy closer to him.

"No matter what your intentions are, you would be nothing more than a liability in battle. You have the same reckless passion as another overzealous hero I know. One who saved 1,000 people by himself and became a legend." All Might immediately came to my mind.

"But even with that drive, you're worthless if you can only throw a single punch before breaking down. Sorry, Midoriya. With your power, there's no way you can become a hero." At that moment, Izuku's face changed from a look of intimidation, to a look of determination, as if he took it as a challenge.

Mr. Aizawa's hair and scarf stopped floated and returned to normal. "I've returned your impractical Quirk. Take your final throw. Hurry and get it over with." Izuku walked back into the circle. I held my hands to my chest, and prayed for him.

"I know you can do it. I believe in you," I said quietly.

He wound back and threw the ball, just like before. This time, however, as the ball left his finger, it shot into the sky, almost like a cannon. I watched in awe as it traveled up and up and up. It landed and his score popped up on Mr. Aizawa's phone. 705.3 meters

"Mr. Aizawa." Izuku stood up and turned around to face our teacher. He clenched his fist, his pointer finger a nasty red. It looked almost broken. "You see? I'm still standing." His face said everything.

He was in pain, but he did what he set out to do.

"Nice, he's finally showing us his true power!" Ochako excitedly declared beside me, inadvertently breaking me out of my thoughts. I realized that I had been staring at Izuku, most likely with a goofy look on my face. Thankfully, he didn't see me, but I knew someone else did.

Yumi tapped me on the shoulder. "You're not hiding it very well, Hannah." I blushed and looked back at her.

"W-what do you mean?" I scratched the back of my head. I knew I had been caught, but for some reason, I just didn't want to admit it.

"Oh, you know what I mean." She smirked at me, knowing she had me caught.

Ochako curiously looked over at us. "What are you two talking about?" I blushed even more and immediately sat up straight.

"No-Nothing, absolutely nothing!" Good going, Hannah. Real smooth, totally not suspicious. Mina looked over at us, the look on her face saying she overheard gossip.

"I know what's going on. Hannah has a crush on someone!" I felt myself shrink a little, and the heat on my face intensified. The rumor spread like wildfire throughout the girls.

I stood up quickly. "N-No, I do not! Just because I was looking off into space does not mean I have a crush on someone." I quickly glanced over at Izuku, and I couldn't shake the feeling that Mina saw it. I sat back down and crossed my arms, resolving to not talk to anyone else for the rest of the day.

Mina slid almost a little too smoothly beside me. "Who is it?" My eyes widened and I almost fell over. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and lay there. Thankfully, Yumi took finally pity on me.

"Haha, alright girls, give her a break." She placed her hand on my shoulder. "It's obvious she doesn't want to say anything." You're a lifesaver, Yumi. I put my hand on hers to show my gratitude, and Mina pouted childishly.

"Aww, but that's no fun." She quickly smiled and playfully messed up my hair, sitting back down. I wasn't as adverse to my hair being messed with as Yumi was, so I didn't mind all that much. I quickly ran my fingers through my hair, and put it back behind my ear. While things were settled down, I could still feel the blush on my cheeks. I took a few breaths to calm myself down.

Izuku was just now making his way back towards the group. Ochako and I stood up, our concern for his well-being evident. "Is your finger okay, Izuku? I asked. He looked at me and shakily nodded.

"Yea, sure."

"There's still three more tests, I hope you'll be able to get through them fine," Ochako added.

"I'll be fine, guys, really. Thank you for the concern, though." He flashed us a smile, and I could feel my heart melt a little. I felt my face heat up again, and it seemed he could see the effect he had on me, as he started blushing too.

After that, the last three tests flew by. I felt I did well enough to keep from finishing last, but I could tell Izuku was fighting through the pain. He had to, otherwise, we would be sent home. We had got done with the long-distance run, and he collapsed onto the ground next to me. Yumi and I had finished just ahead, not really being distance runners ourselves.

Before we even had time to recover, Mr. Aizawa spoke up.

"All right, time to give you your results. I've ranked you all from best to worst. You should probably have a good idea of your standing already." He held up his phone. "I'll just pull up the whole list. It's not worth going over each indidual's score."

I felt pretty confident, I'd done well in most of the tests. My heart was still in my throat, though.

Mr. Aizawa pressed a button on his phone and a projection appeared in front of him.

I looked along the list for my name, quickly finding it among the Top 5. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught Yumi pumping her fist. I looked for her name, and it wasn't far behind mine in nineth. I gently patted her on the back and gave her a high five. Neither of us was going home.

There was a name that I hadn't seen, however. I continued to search, rechecking where I'd already looked. Not in the top ten, or top fifteen. I kept looking, and my heart sunk.

Izuku had finished in last. Even after his performance in the ball throw, it wasn't enough. I looked over at him, and my heart sunk even farther. He looked destroyed. His dream was shattered. I hated seeing him like that. I started walking over to him, to try and comfort him in some way.

"And I was lying, no one's going home." Mr. Aizawa nonchalantly told us. I stopped in my tracks, frozen like a deer in headlights. What did he just say?

"That was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all in the tests." I gave a relived sigh, and fell to my knees. No one's going home. No one ever was going home.

"That's it. We're done for the day. Pick up a syllabus in the classroom. Read it over before tomorrow morning." He walked over to Izuku and handed him a piece of paper.

"Take this and go have the old lady fix you up. Things are gonna be tougher tomorrow when your actual training begins. Make sure you're prepared." He turned and headed off toward the school.

I got up and walked over to Izuku, putting my hand on his shoulder. He jumped, although not as much as when I last did it.

He looked and saw it was me. "O-Oh, hey, H-Hannah."

"You did your best, Izuku. I'm proud of you." I blushed and gave him a thumbs up.

He blushed and smiled back at me. "T-Thanks, I thought I was a goner." We stood in silence for a few seconds, before I saw the look on his face.

"You want to ask me something, don't you?" He quickly looked at me.

"Huh? H-How'd you know?"

"You started looking off into the distance, like you were trying to find the words. I just figured."

"Oh, I didn't realize," he replied, nervously chuckling.

"So, what did you want to ask?" I looked at him questioningly.

"Oh, umm, w-would you mind telling me about your Quirk? I'd really like to know more about it." I blushed slightly. Not many people have asked me about my Quirk. safe to say, I wasn't expecting him to ask me.

I smiled at him. "Sure, I'd love to. Only because you asked nicely." He looked relived almost that I said yes. He looked at me and smiled. I then pointed to his finger.

"How about you go get that fixed up first?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I-I almost forgot about that, heh. I'll see you later, Hannah." He waved at me as he headed off for Recovery Girl's office. I waved back and watched him enter the school.

Unbeknownst to me, Yumi and Mina were gossiping together, and saw me watching Izuku leave.

"She's so into him." Mina said. Yumi nodded in agreement.

Mina added, "And judging from the looks on Midoriya's face when they're together, I'm guessing he's into her, as well."

"You don't miss much, don't you?" Yumi inquired.

"Not really, it's really easy to spot if you look for it." Yumi quickly made a mental note to not let anything slip in Mina's vicinity.

"Come on, we should grab Han before she gets a cold standing there."


	6. Bonding with Old and New

The rest of the day went by fairly uneventfully. After we got back inside, we changed out of our P.E. clothes and into the official school uniform for girls. By then, it was time for lunch. I was going to try and to find Izuku, he had asked to hear more about my Quirk earlier. But before I could find him, I got beckoned over to the girls table by Mina.

I got my food and headed over to their table. It looked like all the girls in class where here. I scooted in next to Tsuyu, and sat down. Why did I feel like I'm going to regret coming over here?

"So, how's lover girl doing?" I knew it. I just knew it. I could feel my face heat up again, and I silently cursed Mina.

"Mina, for the last time, I do not have a crush on anyone!" She covered her mouth and tried not to giggle.

"Oh, come on Hannah, if you want me to stop teasing you, all you have to do is stop blushing every time I bring it up. It's just that easy." She shrugged, like it WAS that easy.

I rolled my eyes and started eating, listening to the others' conversations. Ochako and I eventually got talking about our favorite heroes, and soon everyone was chiming in. Almost everyone gave All Might as an one of their answers, not surprising as he's the literal Symbol of Peace.

Eventually, lunch period ended and we all headed back to our homeroom for our free time. I tried looking for Izuku, but I couldn't find him anywhere.

"He must still be with Recovery Girl," I thought to myself. I sat down at my desk and got out my notebook and pencil, deciding to do some doodling. I wasn't that artistic, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

After a little bit, I had almost completely my doodle of Mr. Aizawa. He wasn't really all that hard to draw, considering he wore all black everything. I sensed that someone had walked up to me and I looked up at them. The boy from earlier, the one with blue hair and glasses, stared back at me with a friendly smile on his face.

"Hannah Sato?" he asked.

"Y-Yea, that's me." He offered me his hand.

"Tenya Iida, from the Somei Private Academy. It's nice to finally meet you." I accepted his handshake.

"Nice to meet you too, Tenya." He looked at me questioningly, and I giggled.

"I'm sorry, I moved here from America. Over there, it's commonplace to call others by their first name." A look of understanding washed over his face.

"Ah, yes. I apologize." He bowed. "I can't help but notice that you have an exceptional understanding of the Japanese language."

"Huh? Oh yea, haha. I was interested in Japanese culture, and I wanted to take Japanese classes in school. I ended up top in the class." I knew I was bragging, but Tenya didn't seem to mind.

"You should always strive to be the best, even in class." He stopped for a moment and straightened his glasses.

"Anyways, I was hoping to introduce myself earlier when you and your friend were talking to Midoriya and Uraraka, but Mr. Aizawa arrived and had us start the physical tests. Speaking of which, congratulations on placing among the top female students in our class in the tests."

"Oh, thank you. I'm just glad no one's going home on the first day."

"I agree. I was a bit concerned by Mr. Aizawa's approach to class. But I trust the school's judgment. UA is the top program, after all." As I was preparing to reply, the bell sounded, signaling the end of free time. Almost at the same time Mr. Aizawa walked back into the room. Tenya got up and bowed to me politely.

"Again, it was nice to meet you, Sato. I hope we can talk again in future." I bowed my head and he went back to his desk on the other side of the room.

"Talk again in the future?" I thought. " We're in the same class, it's almost guaranteed."

I stood up and stretched as the bell sounded again, this time signaling the end of classes for the day. Rubbing my eye and yawning, I started packing up my papers. Yumi made her way over to my desk.

"Hey, Han. Ochako and I were planning a study group tonight. You in?" I eyed her suspiciously.

"Study group? We didn't even get any homework today." I finished packing up and slung my backpack over my shoulders. "What are you guys actually planning?"

She threw her hands in the air. "Gah, you're too observant for your own good! Fine, we were planning on hanging out after school and we figured we should ask if you wanted to." I sighed and shook my head.

"You know, I would've said yes even if you had just asked me if I wanted to hang out." Ochako made her way over as I was talking.

"You girls ready to go?" she asked. I don't understand how she could be so chipper after such a boring class. I nodded and began following them out the door.

When we got to the front doors, we spotted Tenya and Izuku walking with each other. My face felt like it got a little brighter, knowing Izuku was out of Recovery Girl's office. Of course, Ochako felt the need to greet them first.

"Hey! Wait up, you two!" We ran after her, and caught up when she reached them.

Izuku and Tenya turned around to greet us. Izuku seemed to brighten up much in the same way I did when he saw Ochako had me in tow.

"Could you slow down a little, Ochako? Skirts weren't exactly made to be run in," Yumi chided.

"Hehe, sorry. Guess I got a little carried away."

"Ochako, Hannah, Yumi. How'd you guys' first day go? After the fitness tests, I mean" Izuku beamed.

"Eh, about as well as the first day usually goes," Yumi replied.

"Are you guys heading to the station?" Ochacko asked. I could already tell where this was going.

"Yes, why? Would you like to come with us?" asked Tenya.

"Well, Hannah, Yumi and I were planning on hanging out at my place after school. You guys wanna come with?" Izuku immediately started blushing.

Tenya spoke up. "Sure, I'd love to. It would be a great opportunity to bond with classmates." He turned to Izuku. "What about you, Midoriya?"

"Oh, I-I would have to t-talk to my mom about it, heh." He kept blushing and rubbed the back of his head.

Ochako clapped her hands together. "Great, I'll let my parents know. I can't wait for tonight."

After that, we all made our way to the station, and went our separate ways to get ready for that night.

"Yumi, this isn't a sleepover." She had fallen onto the couch almost as soon as we got to Ochako's house.

"Then don't blame me if I fall asleep on this couch. It's so comfortable," she said, as she laid across the length of the couch.

"So, you'd make me drag you back home?"

"Mmhmm."

I looked her with an exasperated expression. "You're impossible." I tossed a pillow at her and sat down with the others in front of the television. Izuku and Ochako were engaged in a particularly intense game of Street Fighter. I would play the winner of this match.

I found myself watching Izuku as he played. I don't know what it is about him. Maybe it was his hair. Or his face. Or his smile. He has a really nice smile.

"Sato, are you alright?" I tensed up and looked at Tenya.

"Y-Yea, I'm fine. Why?"

"Your face is flushed. Are you sick?" I hadn't realized I started blushing again.

"Oh, no. I'm fine, I was just... thinking of something." I mean, I wasn't wrong. I reassured Tenya that I'd be fine, and spent the rest of the match trying to hide my face. At least Mina wasn't here.

After Ochako proved her dominance in Street Fighter, we started watching some kind of reality show. Well, we were more talking to each other than watching what was on the television. I was sitting on the couch with Ochako and a nearly asleep Yumi, Izuku was sitting in a chair on our left and Tenya had gone home for the night.

"Hey, Izuku."

"Hmm? What is it, Uraraka?"

"I've been wondering. Why is it that Bakugo called you Deku earlier today?"

"Oh, well, Deku's what Kacchan calls me to make fun of me." My head snapped up and looked at him. Right, another reason to not like Bakugo.

"Well, you know what? I like "Deku." It could make a great hero name!" Ochako replied, punching imaginary enemies and earning a chuckle from myself.

"I think it sounds kinda cute." The words left my mouth before I could stop them. I was completely red. Why did I say that? Must I constantly embarrass myself?

"Deku it is!" Izuku exclaimed suddenly. His face was as red as mine, maybe redder.

Yumi chose now to wake up. "Wait... weren't you just saying that it was an insult?"

As everyone was preparing to leave for the night, I suddenly remembered what Izuku has asked me earlier. I walked over to the boy as he sat on the couch and put his shoes on. I sat down next to him, which caused him to sit up and look at me.

"What's up, Hannah?" he asked, smiling. I had to make a conscious effort to not blush.

"You asked me if I could tell you about my Quirk earlier today. You still wanna hear about it?" His eyes lit up and the expression on his face was just priceless.

"Of course, I was afraid you had forgotten." I had his full attention now.

"Well, it's not really all that complicated. Basically, I'm able to store and use electrical energy to enhance my abilities."

"Like a battery?"

"Exactly. A walking, talking, human-shaped battery." We both shared a laugh at that. Once we calmed down, I continued. "The cool part is that I can use any electricity from any source. Whether it be static or lightning, theoretically, I can store it. And when needed, I can use it to charge up my muscles and basically overclock them, like you would a computer."

"Oh, is that what you did during the entrance exam? When you saved me from that robot?" I nodded my head. "Wow, your Quirk sounds incredibly useful. So many applications, in both rescuing and fighting." He started mumbling a little bit, which I found quite cute.

"Yep. However, there is a potentially serious downside to my Quirk."

He looked at me with a somewhat worried expression on his face. "What's that?"

"You know how the human body is 75% water?" He nodded. "Well, basically, if I use my Quirk for too long, the heat created by the electricity will boil me from the inside."

He looked at me, worried. I hurriedly waved my hands in front of me. "Oh, don't worry. It's never happened to me! That's just what the family doctor told us." I rubbed the back of my head nervously, hoping I didn't scare him too much.

"Oh, thank goodness." He looked incredibly relieved.

"Yeah. Fortunately, I've learned to regulate it, and now I can pretty much control it without thinking." I hold up my hand and put some charge into my fingers, the blue electricity tickling them as I switch between them. Izuku watched with child-like amusement on his face.

I looked over at the sleeping figure of Yumi. "Well, I figure we better get home." I got up and tapped Yumi on the shoulder. "Wake up, sleeping beauty. Let's get going."

"Just let me lie here, please. I don't wanna get up."

"I'm not going to try and explain to her why you spent the night at someone's house, the day you met them." I hoisted her up, and led her to the door. She was basically a zombie by this point.

"Here, let me help." Izuku got up off the couch and got on Yumi's left side, slinging her arm over his shoulder.

"Oh, you don't have to. I got her."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to have to carry her by yourself." I blushed and smiled. He didn't have to help, but he wanted to. The least I could do was let him.

"Well, it is a bit of a walk home. I guess you can if you really want to." He smiled and we continued down the stairs.

The walk itself didn't take very long. It turns out that Ochako and I live basically next to each other. So, that was convenient. We filled the walk with small talk and the occasional point to a star that we liked.

Eventually, we found ourselves at my front door. I had called Yumi's mom to tell her that she had fallen asleep and she'd be spending the night at my house. She'd been surprisingly okay with it, so that issue was taken care of.

We opened the door and went inside. My mom greeted us and when she saw Izuku come in with me, she just had to know who he was.

"Ah, Hannah, you're back. Who's your friend there?"

"H-Hi, Mrs. Sato. I'm I-Izuku Midoriya. I-It's s-super nice to meet you." He waved nervously. I could tell he wasn't prepared to meet my mother.

Before my mom could say anything to embarrass me, I spoke up. "We spent time at a classmates house after school. Yumi fell asleep and he offered to help carry her back." I laid the sleeping Yumi down on the couch and stretched.

"Well, he seems like a keeper." I swear my blush could've lit up the room. Combined with Izuku's, our blushes could've lit up the entire neighborhood. I'm sure she does this on purpose.

"Mom! It's not like that, he was just being nice."

"Oh, I'm just pulling your leg. I'm glad you kids had a good time." I made a mental note to get back at her at some point. I looked at Izuku and made an apologetic face. I think he understood, replying with a smile and a nod.

Izuku couldn't stay long, unfortunately. It was getting late, and his mother had texted him saying it was time to come home.

We stepped outside and I was trying to find the courage to say something to him.

"I'm really glad we got to hang out together." Well, it was something.

"Oh, me too. I had a lot of fun." He smiled at me, and I couldn't help but smile back.

I didn't know what else to say. I wasn't fan of awkward silence, and it was filling the space between us.

I decided to close that space and I wrapped him up in a hug. I could feel him tense up, probably wasn't expecting a move like that. Quickly though, he softened up and wrapped his arms around me, reciprocating. I could feel my face heat up again and was silently thankful for it being kind of dark outside.

His hair gently tickled my cheek, the smell of peppermint wafting into my nose. I've always loved peppermint, and it just gave me another reason to like this boy.

I was enjoying the embrace, but I knew it wouldn't last forever. I let go of him, and looked at him. He was blushing slightly and I could've swore he looked a little disappointed. I kept my hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"You should get home. Don't want to keep your mother waiting."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. You're right." He hesitated slightly, then hurriedly hopped down the steps. He turned and waved at me.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow, right?"

"You know it." The smile I received made my heart jump. I waved goodbye and watched him until I couldn't see him anymore. I turned and walked back inside, closing the door.

My mom was waiting for me on the other side. While Izuku and I were saying our goodbyes, she had gotten a blanket and laid it over Yumi. I gave a big yawn, and it was now that I realized just how tired I was from everything that happened today.

I walked in, and got changed into my nightclothes. I flopped onto my bed, and got under the covers, my mind wandering wherever it pleased.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," I muttered, and fell asleep seconds later.


	7. The Real Test Starts Now

~~~~~Izuku's POV~~~~~

As I walked home from Hannah's, I couldn't help but think about everything that had happened that day. The physical tests could've gone better, but I'm not going to be expelled. That's a plus. Without them, or Mr. Aizawa, I wouldn't have learned to control One For All in the way I was able to.

I've made so many new friends. Tenya Iida, Ochaco Uraraka, and Yumi Ito I met in class. They all have really cool Quirks, too. Iida has engines in his calves, giving him super speed. Uraraka can manipulate an object's gravity just by touching it. And Ito can condense the water vapor in the air to form semi-solid objects made of water!

However, there's one person who I think is most noteworthy. Hannah Sato.

At Uraraka's house, she had told me about her Quirk. She can store any electrical charge, and then put that charge through her muscles to give herself increased strength, speed and endurance. She also passively builds charge just by moving around, so she always has some in reserve.

Besides her Quirk, she's a really fun person to be around. Not that everyone else isn't fun, they are. But, when I'm around Hannah, I can't help but smile. Her smiles are almost contagious. I could feel my cheeks heat up in the cool, night air.

She's really pretty, too. When I first saw her in UA's uniform, I just couldn't help but stare. And just before I left her house, we hugged goodbye. I could still remember the smell of lavender that emanated from her hair.

Behind the friendly exterior, though, there's a fierce fighter inside. I saw it during the entrance exam, when we first met. She appeared from out of nowhere, and stopped a robot's attack at point blank range, saving me in the process. She tore its arm off and launched it back through the robot like it was nothing. I made a mental note to not make her unhappy in the future.

Before I knew it, I found myself at the door to my Mom and I's apartment. I yawned and opened the door, kicking off my shoes as I entered.

"Mom, I'm home!" I turned and hung up my jacket on the rack.

"Oh, welcome home Izuku. I hope your first day went well." She waited patiently as I yawned again.

"Yea, better than I thought it would go. I'll tell you about it in the morning, though. I'm exhausted."

"Oh, that's okay, sweetie. You get your rest." I smiled at her, and proceeded up the stairs to my room. I went in, and fell onto the bed, not bothering to cover up. I was asleep before I even knew it.

~~~~~Hannah's POV~~~~~

I woke up the next day excited. Not as excited as I was yesterday, but still pretty excited. Today was the day we'd be getting our Hero costumes! I'd used most of my free time since I was accepted into UA designing mine, and today was the first time I'd see it in person.

I rolled out of bed and stretched, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I immediately smelled breakfast, my legs moving on their own as I made my way downstairs. Once I reached the bottom, I looked towards the couch and saw Yumi, still asleep.

"As usual," I though to myself. My mom was in the kitchen, busy keeping watch of bacon so it wouldn't burn. She turned when she heard my approach.

"Once again, Hannah's the first to awaken."

"I don't think that's gonna change anytime soon." I walked over to the sleeping girl, an idea forming in my head. "Yumi, get up! Class starts in 15 minutes, and we're gonna be late if you don't get up now!"

"Wait, what?!" I dodged out of the way as a panicked Yumi fell off the couch, letting out an audible grunt of pain upon landing. She rubbed her butt and looked at the clock, her shoulders slumping when she saw the time. "We don't even have to be there for at least another hour."

I smirked at her. "I know, I just needed a way to wake you up." She growled at me and got up, dusting herself off.

"You're lucky I'm still half-asleep." She rubbed her eyes and sat down at the table, just in time for break fast be handed out. Suddenly, Yumi seemed quite awake, my mom setting a plate in front of her.

I sat next to her, and received my own plate. "Thanks, Mom."

"Yeah, thanks Mrs. Sato." Yumi said, before beginning to dig in.

"No problem, girls. Once you're finished, hurry up and get ready. You don't want to be late." I saw Yumi shoot me a glare out of the corner of my eye. I had a feeling she wasn't going to let it go.

I let out another yawn as we made our way towards the campus. I had slept well enough, but for some reason, I just still felt tired. It didn't really help that the chilly morning air combined with the warmth of the sun was enough to put me back to sleep standing up.

"Tired, sleeping beauty?" Yumi quipped.

"That's my line. Besides, you were the one still sleeping when I got up." We turned the corner and made our way up the path leading to the front doors.

Once inside, we quickly made our way to our homeroom. We stepped inside and I immediately felt a hostile pair of eyes on me. Bakugo was glaring daggers at me. My mind shot back to the other day. Was he still mad about that? It was only a race.

I thought it unfortunate that my seat was quite close to his, and I scurried my way past him. I took my seat behind him, and got out my notebook. There was still a bit of time before class started, and I figured I could get some more doodling done.

I started and almost immediately lost myself in thought. There was alot to do that day, if Mr. Aizawa was to be believed. Not only would we be getting our hero costumes, we'd also meet our Hero Basic Training teacher. I wondered who it was going to be.

"H-Hey, Hannah."

"Huh?" A voice brought me back to reality. I looked up into the green eyes of Izuku and I could feel my cheeks heat up.

"Oh! H-Hi, Izuku." I couldn't help but give what felt like a goofy looking smile.

He blushed lightly and smiled back. "What do you have there?" He pointed at my notebook while taking his seat just in front of me.

"Oh, this is just my doodling notebook. Whenever I feel like drawing, this is what I use." I picked it up and quickly showed him what I was drawing. He looked at it and started blushing.

"What's wrong?" I looked at him curiously.

"N-Nothing!" He stiffened like a board. "It's just that I wasn't expecting you to draw me." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"What do you mean?" I turned the notebook around and looked at the drawing.

My eyes widened and I could feel my face heat up again. I had absentmindedly drawn Izuku playing a game. "Oh, sorry. I usually just start drawing and let my mind wander."

"Oh, no it's fine. It's actually really good."

"You think so?"

"Of course, its better than what I can do." My heart fluttered and I smiled.

"You draw?"

"Heh, a little bit here and there."

"Do you think I could see?" I asked. He blushed and hesitated slightly.

"Oh! S-Sure." He pulled out what looked like a journal and opened it to a random page. It was my turn to blush, as it looked like a quick sketch of me. On the opposite page, it looked like there were a few notes of some sort.

"I-I wasn't expecting you to draw me, either." He looked at me questioningly, and took a look at the page he showed me. Once he saw what page he opened to, his face immediately reddened.

"O-O-Oh, yeah. Umm, a-after I got home last night, I-I jotted d-down what you told me about your Q-Quirk last night." He rubbed the back of his head and looked away. "I-I hope that's alright with y-you."

I immediately started giggling and covered my mouth. I loved this side of him. It's so cute. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Yeah, that's alright. It's always nice to know the Quirks of someone you could be working with. Or fighting against." He let out a breath and smiled at me.

"Thanks. Not everyone is so understanding." He shot a glance at Bakugo.

Before I could inquire, however, the door opened and the multi-colored Symbol of Peace All Might came flying through the door.

"I am here! Coming through the door like a hero!"

My jaw dropped in awe. I knew All Might was going to be a teacher at UA, but I didn't think I'd be in his class. He was even wearing his Silver Age costume. All the nostalgia came flooding back to me and hit like a wave.

He walked up to the front of the class and turned to us. "Welcome to the most important class at UA High. Think of it as "Hero-ing 101." Here, you will learn the basics of being a pro. And what it means to fight in the name of good! Let's get into it! Today's lesson will pull no punches!" He held out a card with the word 'Battle' on it. Combat.

"But one of the keys of being a hero is... looking good!" He pointed to the wall and sections of it started sliding out. Inside these sections, were cases with numbers on them. "These were designed for you based on your Quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started."

Our costumes! I had almost forgotten about them when Izuku and I started talking. Suddenly, I felt very anxious now that I was about to get mine.

"Get yourselves suited up, and then meet me at Training Ground Beta!"

I grabbed my case and started headed for the girls' changing room. I heard footsteps behind me and turned around to see Yumi and Mina heading for me. I stopped to let them catch up.

"Hey, guys. You got your costumes?" They happily held up their cases.

"Hannah, just to let you know, we're girls. Not guys." I looked at Yumi disapprovingly as Mina struggled to keep all her giggles inside.

"Anything else you want to say, Yumi?" She shook her head. "Great. Let's go. We don't want to keep All Might waiting."

When we got to the changing room, we went to the nearest bench and set our cases down. I unbuttoned my school jacket and dropped it onto the bench. As I took my undershirt off, I caught Mina staring at me, in an equal state of undress. I covered my chest and turned to her.

"You like what you see?" She jumped slightly, and blushed. Well, as much as you can blush when your skin is pink.

"I mean, yeah. They're really nice." My face lit up and I didn't really know what to say.

"T-Thanks, yours are nice, too."

"Okay, come on. We're not going to have a sleepover in the locker room." Yumi chimed in. She had already begun putting her costume on.

"I'm sure we could arrange that," Mina quipped. I chuckled at the thought.

Eventually, everyone got their costumes on. Mina's was pretty cute, a purple and turquoise camouflage skintight bodysuit and a tan vest with white fur on the collar, along with a white mask across her eyes.

Yumi, on the other hand, added some style to her costume. Her costume was a red jacket adorned with a small, upturned, black collar, along with a pair of navy blue jeans with black padding strapped to the sides, as well as black shoes fastened with straps instead of laces.

And here I was, choosing function over looks. Nothing flashy. My trusty sneakers, cargo pants and a white tanktop, specially modified to help keep the electricity I produce away from my vital organs. I don't know how the people who made the costumes did it, but I won't complain. I pull my hair into a ponytail, and the look is complete.

"Wow, Hannah. You look like a mercenary," I heard Tsuyu say. I looked up and saw that she and Ochaco had walked over to us, having finished with their costumes: Tsuyu with a green and black skintight suit with yellow linings and Ochaco with a skintight pink and black suit with detached sleeves and knee-high boots.

"Is that a compliment?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Well, you just look like someone who shouldn't be messed with." I reach into my case and pull out a pair of black fingerless gloves, along with two silver and black bracelets.

"What are those for?" Ochaco asks. I quickly throw on the gloves and look at her.

"Watch." I slip them onto my wrists and position my arms as if preparing for combat. The bracelets unfold into two gauntlets. The front edge of both end at my knuckles, while the back slides into position over top of my forearms, acting as guards.

"Whoa! Those are badass!" Yumi leaned in to get a better look. I saw the others nod in agreement. "Did you make those yourself?" Ochaco asked, earning a chuckle from me.

"Make, no. Design, yes. Since my primary form of attacking is punching, it makes sense that I'd want to protect my hands and arms." I got up from the bench and threw a few punches at some imaginary enemies. "Now, I can punch harder without having to worry about hurting myself."

I jerked my arms down to my sides and my gauntlets reverted back to their bracelet mode. I turned and looked at everyone.

"So, you girls ready to go?"

As we walked out of the tunnel, I held my hand up to keep the sun out of my eyes. I looked around to see if I could find Izuku, but he wasn't there. I guessed he was having costume trouble. All Might had been waiting for us, and he now started addressing us.

"They say that clothes make the pros, young ladies and gentlemen, and behold, you are the proof! Take this to heart. From now on you are all heroes in training!

"Now. Shall we get started, you buncha newbies?"

I turned as I heard footsteps behind me and froze at the sight.

"Izuku, is that you?" He was wearing a green full-body jumpsuit with red accessories and a mask that kind of made him look like a rabbit. He stopped and looked at me, covering his mouth as he did so. If he didn't have the mask on, I'm sure he'd be lit up like a Christmas tree.

"H-Hannah! Y-You... look great." I felt my face heat up. I could feel his eyes on me and I couldn't help but feel self-conscious.

"O-Oh, uhh. Heh. T-Thank you, Izuku. I-Is that your costume?"

"Oh, yeah. My mom made it for me. What do you think?"

"It's nice. I really like the color." He gave me an appreciative smile, and I kindly sent one back.

All Might spoke up. "Now that you're ready, it's time for combat training."

"Sir!" Tenya raised his hand. I hadn't recognized him in his costume, which looked as if a medival knight crossed with a race car. "This is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean that we'll be conducting urban battles again?"

"Not quite!" All Might replied. "I'm going to move you two steps ahead. Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place indoors.

"Think about it. Backroom deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs. Truly intelligent criminals stay hidden in the shadows." He looked at us intensely. "For this training exercise, you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys and fight two-on-two indoor battles."

Tsuyu spoke up beside me. "Isn't this a little advanced?"

"The best training is what you get on the battlefield!" All Might replied, clenching his fist in front of himself. "But remember, you can't just punch a robot this time. You're dealing with actual people now."

Suddenly, everyone started asking questions. It was almost like middle school, when the class wouldn't quiet down, even when the teacher was coming. All Might pulled out what looked like a sheet of paper and continued after everyone quieted down.

"Listen up! The situation is this. The villains have hidden a nuclear missile somewhere in their hideout. The heroes must try to foil their plans. To do that, the good guys either have to catch the evildoers or recover the weapon.

"Likewise, the bad guys succeed if they protect their payload or capture the heroes." He pulled out a yellow box. On the box, I could see the word 'Lots'.

"Time's limited, and we'll choose teams by drawing lots!" Oh, that's what it's for.

After everyone had drawn, the teams were set. I got paired with Mina, Yumi got paired with Momo Yaoyorozu, and Ochaco was paired Izuku. If I have to be honest, I was a little jealous of Ochaco.

All Might, meanwhile, had his hands inside two other boxes, a black one marked 'Villain' and a white one marked 'Hero'. "I declare that the first teams to fight will be... these guys!" He pulled his hands out and held up two balls with the letters 'E' and 'G' on them. Team E, Mina and I, versus Team G, Kyouka and a boy named Denki Kaminari.

"Team G will be the heroes, Team E will be the villains. Everyone else can head to the monitoring room to watch!"

While everyone else went up to the monitoring room, All Might led us to the hideout. "Bay guys, you can go on in and get set up. In five minutes, the good guys will be let loose and the battle will start!"

As Mina and I were walking in the front door, All Might stopped us for a second.

"Young Sato. Young Ashido. The key to being successful in this challenge is to embody villainy. Think from the perspective of an evildoer. If things go too far, I'll step in."

Mina looked back at me. "You ready, Hannah?"

I gave her a thumbs up. I was determined not to lose. "Let's show these guys what we're made of."


	8. It's Time for Mock Battles

After Mina and I got to the floor we were to defend, we started talking strategy.

"Alright Mina, let's talk Quirks." She turned to me and clapped her hands together.

"Ooo, yay!"

"You know everyone in our class already, right?" She nodded her head.

"Yep!" I could tell she already knew what I was planning. She put her hand on her chin. "Let's see. Jiro can plug the jacks that hang from her ears into just about anything, plus she has incredibly good hearing."

"So, she'll hear us coming long before we see them, if we attack them head on?" Mina nodded. I learned against a pillar and similarly put my hand on my chin.

"Hmm. Alright, we've got some time to think of something. What about her partner, I forget his name?"

"Oh, Kaminari? I think I remember him mentioning that he can emit electricity from his body."

My head snapped up and I looked at Mina. "Wait, what can he do?"

"He can emit electricity from his body." I gave a small chuckle and Mina looked at me questioningly. "What?"

"My Quirk allows me to store electricity, which I can put through my muscles to enhance my abilities. If he uses his Quirk against us..."

"...Then he'd be playing right into your hands," Mina finished. I could feel myself getting excited for the battle ahead. A thought hit me suddenly.

"Wait, if Kaminari uses his Quirk, how will you protect yourself?" She smiled at me and stomped the ground.

"Rubber boots. If worst comes to worst, I can hold my own in a fistfight."

"Oh, alright then." I got up off the pillar, knowing we didn't have much time left to prepare. "So, do you want to be offense or defense?" Mina looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you serious? Your Quirk is clearly the better choice for offense. Plus, I'd rather not melt our classmates." She rubbed her neck sheepishly.

"Heh, it's alright, I figured I'd ask before we get started."

As if in reply, All Might's voice came in over the PA. "All right! Let's begin the indoor combat training! Team E and Team G, your time starts now!"

Before I could get going, Mina stopped me by putting a hand on my shoulder. She pointed at her ear. "Keep in contact, okay? Lemme know if either of them gets by." All Might had given us some earpieces, so that we could keep in contact.

I nodded my head, and headed out in search of the heroes.

"Alright, we're in."

"We just walked through the front door, dude," replied Jiro.

"Yeah, we're in." Kaminari gave her a cocky smirk and started walking down the hall.

"Wait a sec." She effortlessly manuvered her earphone jack and plugged it into the wall, listening intently.

"One, two floors up. One, on this floor heading our way." She paused for a brief moment. "Scratch that, they stopped. Down at the end of the hall."

"Well, let's not keep them waiting." Kaminari started walking again.

"What if it's trap?" Jiro got up and started following him.

"Oh, come on. They only had five minutes. I doubt it was enough time for much."

I sat down at the other end of the hall, waiting for the Hero team to show up. It was really the only way up to the floor Mina and I were protecting, unless you could float. I brought my hand up to my ear, and activated the earpiece.

"Mina, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, what's up?

"Not much, just making sure these actually work."

"Oh, yeah." She giggled. "That's pretty important."

"Mina, that laugh didn't sound very villainous."

"Oh, sorry." She cleared her throat, and gave her best evil laugh. "Better?"

"Eh, it could use some work." I covered my mouth, stifling a laugh.

"Har har. Why don't you give it a try, if you're so good at it?" At that moment, I heard voices coming from the other end of the hall.

"That'll have to wait. I hear voices. I'll let you know if they get by."

"Oh, alright. I'll let you off this one time. Good luck!" I deactivated the earpiece and stood up, dusting myself off.

I could see Kaminari and Jiro walking down the hall, bathed in the light from outside. I could hear them talking about what sounded like traps, I wasn't exactly sure. Once they got within earshot, I made my presence known.

"We may not have had time for traps, but it would still be easier if you two just turned around and left." They jumped to attention at my voice, raising their fists as they did so.

"Heroes never give up, villain!" Kaminari pointed his finger at me. "In fact, it should be you who gives up!" Well, at least he's trying. I took a second to compose myself.

"That isn't exactly an option for us, now isn't it? I'll give you one last warning. Leave... unless you want things to get messy." I prepared to activate my gauntlets, very much expecting a fight.

"Bring it." I could see the electricity crackling in his hands.

"If that's how you want it." I jerked my arms back and my gauntlets activated, unfolding to cover my arms. I noticed that Kyouka must have slipped down one of the side hallways, she wasn't next to Kaminari anymore. I'd have to keep an eye out for her.

"Whoa, nice gear. Did your mom make them?"

"No, I designed them myself. I'd be happy to show them to you up close!" I charged my legs and bolted at him, stopping behind him. I quickly pivoted and landed a jab to his left kidney, causing him to cry out in pain.

He turned to face me and I caught him in the jaw. He reeled back and I took the opportunity to land a kick to the midsection, taking him off his feet. He landed on the cold concrete with a thud.

"You ready to give up?" I asked him, figuring I'd give him the chance to surrender. He struggled to his hands and knees, trying to regain his breath.

He suddenly charged at me, electricity filling his hand. I quickly took a step back, lowering myself and landing a spinning back elbow to his midsection. I took his arm, and turned around while twisting it. Pulling him around and letting go, I turned and jumped, spun around and landed a tornado kick to his head, laying him out.

I got up and dusted myself off, taking a look at him. "Guess not." I silently thanked my training with Yumi. It actually came in handy.

I quickly remembered that Kyouka had left before the fight. I reached up to my ear and activated the earpiece.

"Mina? Are you there?" Silence. "Mina?"

I started charging my legs, preparing to run to Mina's aid, when All Might's voice came back over the PA. "Villain Team, wins!"

I accidentally tripped and fell forward. We won? I got up and started headed up to Mina. When I got there, I spotted Kyouka sitting on the gournd, holding her cheek. It seems like Mina managed to capture her.

The girl in question was crouched down next to the fallen girl, with her hand on her back. I made my way over to them, Kyouka looking up when she heard me.

"You look fairly unscathed. Was Kaminari that useless?"

"Heh, I mean he tried." Kyouka didn't look very surprised. "What did Mina do to you?"

The pink girl replied, "I caught her trying to sneak by me. I tossed some acid in her path and managed to get her with a hook to the jaw." She emphasized the act by swinging at an invisible enemy.

"Yeah, you could've toned it down a little. Now my cheek is going to be swollen."

"Heh, sorry."

"Eh, nothing Recovery Girl can't fix." I offered her my hand. She took it and I hauled her up to her feet. "Come on, let's get back to the monitoring room."

On our way back, we collected Kaminari. He didn't seem all too upset about your fight, as he offered his fist to you.

"Nice kick, Sato. Turned my lights off instantly." I accepted his fist bump.

"Heh, thanks." I'm glad he was okay. I was worried that I'd gone too far, but All Might would've stepped in if thing's had got that way.

We got back up to the monitoring room, where the rest of our class was waiting for us. As we walked in the door, we were immediately approached by Ochaco, Tsuyu and Izuku.

"Hannah! That was amazing!" Ochaco ran up to me and gave me a hug. It took some willpower to not blush in front of everyone.

"Ribbit."

"Haha, thanks guys. But it was Mina who won the fight for us." Mina blushed a little at my words.

"Aww. Thank you, Hannah." She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer, into something like a half-hug, which I reciprocated. "You still owe me an evil laugh."

"Wow, I had forgotten about that. I guess I do." I flashed her a smile. I pulled out my ponytail and stuffed the tie into my pocket. I was never really fond of ponytails, but they came in handy every now and then.

"Young Sato, Young Ashido." We looked at All Might who was walking over to us. "Congratulations on your win. I couldn't think of a better way to kick off the mock battles."

"Thank you, All Might." We both bowed politely. I still couldn't believe that I was talking to All Might himself.

"It's certainly been awhile since I've seen a freshman with such pure fighting prowess and instincts, such as yourself Sato." I felt my cheeks heat up, being praised by All Might himself was definitely not one of the things I was expecting today.

He gave me his trademark smile. "I'm sure you'll make a great Hero one day."

"Thank you, Sensai." I couldn't believe my ears, and I'm sure that there was a big, goofy smile pastered on my face that everyone could see. All Might basically just gave me his seal of approval.

I noticed Izuku hadn't said anything and I looked over him. He jumped slightly and started blushing. I must have caught him staring, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted that way.

His reaction made me blush back and I smiled at him. My legs moved on their own and I found myself standing in front of him. I realized my mistake too late, as Mina slid up beside me and poked my cheek, causing me to squeak slightly and cover my mouth.

"Yoo-hoo, Hannah? Anyone home?" I felt my cheeks heat up even more and I looked over at Mina.

"Whoa, someones looking a little red. Hope you haven't caught a cold." She giggled and patted me on the back.

She walked back over to the rest of the group, leaving Izuku and I standing by ourselves. I could feel the awkward silence growing between us again, and I didn't think a hug was the best option this time.

I needed to say something to break it. "So..."

"S-So?"

"What did you think?"

"Honestly, it was amazing. I didn't know you could fight like that."

"Yeah, well... I've had some training before I came to UA." I started twirling my hair around my finger, a nervous habit I had picked up recently. "I-I could teach you some stuff sometime, if you'd like."

"Really?"

"Yeah, if you'd like?" I looked at him, waiting for his answer. He put his hand on his chin and I could help but chuckle to myself as he gave serious thought to the offer.

The smile he gave me nearly melted my heart. "I'd like that." I smiled back at him, glad I'd be able to spend more time with him. I could see Mina out of the corner of my eye talking with Ochaco, looking over here occasionally. Probably gossiping about Izuku and I.

All Might suddenly spoke up. "Alright! Since there was minimal damage to the villain hideout, save for a few burn marks, we can quickly continue with the mock battles." He dove his hands into the two boxes again.

"I declare that the next two teams to fight will be..." He pulled out another two balls. "...these guys!" He held up 'D' and 'A'.

"Team A will be the heroes, Team D will be the villains." I knew Team A was Ochaco and Izuku. And if I remembered correctly, Team D was Tenya and... Bakugo.

I felt Izuku grab my arm, causing me to look over at him. He looked at me, and I could clearly see the worry on his face. It made me realize just how wary and afraid he must be of Bakugo. I put my hand on his shoulder, and shot him my trademark grin.

"You've got this," I said, giving him a thumbs up. He took a breath and nodded, steeling himself for the battle to come. He made his way over to Ochaco, and together made their way out of the monitoring room, soon followed by Tenya and Bakugo.

"Good luck, Deku," I said to myself. I made my way over to the rest of our class, listening in on a conversation between Tsuyu and Mina. "I can't help but feel like you're going to need it."


	9. I Couldn't Stand to Watch

Chapter 9: The Scare of my Life  
-

After bidding Izuku good luck in his mock battle, I made my way over to Mina and Tsuyu. They were engaged in a conversation of some sort, although when Mina spotted me, she quickly quieted down.

I eyed them suspiciously. "Alright, what are you guys talking about?" Mina feigned ignorance and shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh, nothing." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Tsu and I were just talking about what we were doing after class today." Why didn't I believe her?

Tsuyu shook her head slightly and turned to me. "We were talking about you."

"Me? Why would you guys be talking about me?" I looked at them questioningly.

"Well, we were more talking about you and Midoriya-chan." I could already see where this was going. Tsuyu tipped her finger against her mouth. "You two seem to be pretty close already, and it's only the second day of school."

"That's what love will do to ya, right Hannah?" Mina gave me playful punch to the shoulder.

"I-I am not in love with Izuku. We're just f-friends, that's all!" I crossed my arms and turned away from them, mostly to hide the blush that had spread across my face.

"I dunno, Han. Friends don't usually blush bright pink in each other's company." Mina leaned in closer to me. "Plus, I saw the way you were looking at him." I stiffened and I felt my blush grow.

"W-What do you mean?"

"When we got back here from our battle, you looked at him and immediately spaced out."

"How do you know if I was looking at him?"

"Because you started blushing and had a goofy smile on your face." She put her arm around my shoulders and smiled at me. "Don't worry about it, girl. We all have our crushes in school."

"I never said I had a crush on him. Like I said, we're just friends!"

"Alright, Mina. Give her a break." Tsuyu walked over and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Aww, I was just teasing her." She offered me her fist. "No hard feelings, right?"

I accepted the apology and raised my fist to meet hers. "Yeah, you're fine." She smiled at me and turned her attention to All Might at the front of the class.

I gently put my hand on Tsuyu's shoulder. "Tsu, can I tell you something? I didn't want to say anything in front of Mina, in case she gave me a hard time."

"Sure, Hannah. What is it?"

"Well... I guess I do have a bit of a crush on Izuku. I don't know what it is about him, it's just... he's so nice, and smart, and cute..." I could feel my face heat up as I thought of him.

"I figured, you weren't very convincing. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you, Tsu." I gave her a quick hug, which she reciprocated, and we both turned back to the front of the class, as All Might was trying to get everyone calmed down.

"All right! Let's begin the second mock battle! Team A and Team D, your time starts now!"

I turned my attention to the video screen. There were 5 different cameras showing different parts of the hideout, with one camera perched above the hallway where Kaminari and I fought. I wondered how it looked to everyone in here.

Izuku and Ochaco made their way in through one of the windows. They quickly made their way down the hall, peeking around every corner before they turned around them. It was smart, they didn't know what the villains could've planned, if they planned anything at all.

Suddenly, Bakugo came flying around the corner and made contact with the wall, narrowly missing Izuku. He had dived out of the way, taking Ochaco with him.

"Uraraka, you okay?"

"I'm fine. Thanks!" She gasped quickly. Izuku's mask had been destroyed, the left side of his face and head now exposed.

"I'm okay. It's just my mask."

Bakugo pulled his hand free from the wall, and the dust cleared. There was a huge hole in the wall just from his attack. Was that meant for Izuku?

"What's the matter, Deku? Afraid to stand up and fight me?"

Izuku stood up. "I knew you'd come at me first, and figured you'd try to catch me by surprise."

Bakugo charged, quickly closing the gap. "I won't hurt you so bad they'll have to stop the fight. Just close!" He threw a punch, but Izuku met him halfway and caught it, taking hold of his arm.

He turned, pivoting on his right foot. He flipped Bakugo over his shoulder and slammed him to the ground. I

"Kacchan. You always use a big right hook to start a fight. I know because I've watched you for years. I analyzed every amazing hero, even you. I wanted to learn everything I could about them. It was all in the notebook you burned and threw away.

"You can call me Deku, but I'm not the same helpless, defenseless kid anymore! From now on, Deku is the name of a hero!" I thought back to last night, when we hung out at Ochaco's house. It seemed like such a long time ago. I blushed slightly and smiled. "Deku." I quietly whispered it to myself.

In the meantime, Bakugo had gotten to his feet. The look on his face made it clear that he wasn't acting. He was genuinely furious.

"Deku. You're shaking in your boots, you're so scared. But you wanna fight me anyway. That's why I hate you!" He propelled himself forward with a small explosion and aimed a kick at Izuku's head, which was easily blocked. Izuku turned to Ochaco.

"Uraraka! Go!" Ochaco took off down the hall.

"Ballsy move. Think you can take me alone?" He threw another punch, again connecting with the wall instead of Izuku, who dodged again. I could feel myself getting excited. Izuku was holding his own, without even using his Quirk. It was beginning to feel like he had a chance against Bakugo.

Izuku turned and ran around the corner. I knew Bakugo wasn't going to give him time to think, and it seemed Izuku knew that too.

"Get back here, Deku!"

He quickly lost Bakugo. He seemed pretty lost himself, although that's bound to happen when every corridor looks the same. He kneeled down behind a corner and looked back around it. The sounds of Bakugo yelling in the halls could be heard.

Mina pointed to another camera. "Hey, look! Uraraka found the weapon!" I looked over to the camera that had looked over the room with the weapon inside. Tenya looked like he was monologuing or something, we didn't have audio on this camera. It was kind of funny seeing him like that, he's usually so straight and narrow.

"Why aren't you using your fancy Quirk?" I looked back over at the camera looking at Izuku. Bakugo had found him. The look in his eyes, it was almost crazed. "Don't tell me you're underestimating me, Deku. Get over here and show me what you're really made of."

"Kacchan. I'm not scared of you anymore." Bakugo just grinned at him.

"Since you're such a stalker, by now you probably know how my Quirk, Explosion, works. I secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from my hands and make it blow up. Imagine what I could do if I had a lot of it." He held up his right hand and pulled back on the pin of one of his grenade gauntlets, revealing a smaller pin poking out of the side.

"That's right, theses gauntlets aren't just for show. They've been storing up my sweat inside for one monster blast." He wrapped his finger around the pin, and prepared to pull.

"Young Bakugo!" All Might yelled into the mic. "Don't do it! You're kill him!" Worry spread across my face. I was right. Bakugo wasn't playing the part of a villain, he was actively trying to hurt Izuku.

"He'll be fine as long as he dodges!" He pulled the pin, and out of the end of his gauntlet fired a huge fireball, trails being gouged out of the wall and floor. It engulfed Izuku and blasted a large hole out of the front of the building. I gasped and covered my mouth, looking on in worry.

"Come in! Come in, Midoriya!" I held my hands together, prayed that Izuku was okay. The smoke cleared, and the extant of the damage became apparent.

Izuku was laying to the side of the path of the explosion. The rest of his mask and the sleeve on his right arm were gone, but he look otherwise unharmed. I felt a small bit of relief that he was okay, but I had a feeling Bakugo wasn't done with him.

All Might raised the mic to his mouth again. "Bakugo. Use that stored-up power again and I'll stop this fight. Your team will lose. To employ such a strong attack indoors in inviting the destruction of the stronghold you should be protecting. That's a poor strategy, whether you're a bero or a villain. The penalty would be a massive loss of points."

He launched himself at Izuku. "Fine! We'll fight hand-to-hand!" Izuku tried to counterattack, but Bakugo changed direction in mid-air, and blasted Izuku in the back. He hit him with a right hook and grabbed his arm, using explosions from his free hand to slam Izuku in the ground.

I looked away from the screen, and I felt Mina put her arm around me. She could probably sense how upset I was getting. I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I didn't know how much more I could watch. This fight should've been stopped a long time ago. What was All Might waiting for?

Izuku got up and ran to the wall. He didn't have anywhere else to go. "You've always been stronger, Kacchan. I know that you're better than me." I looked back at the screen at Izuku's words. "Can't you see? That's why I wanna beat you. Because you're amazing!"

"You're even more of an idiot than I realized. Come at me!" They rushed at each other and launched themselves into the air, both with their arm wound back.

Izuku's arm started to glow again, like it did during the entance exam. The rest of his right sleeve shredded away. Both fighters threw their attacks at the same time, but it didn't look like Izuku's attack was aimed at Bakugo. Izuku threw an uppercut, but it missed.

Suddenly, the ceiling above them shattered. The wind generated by the attack flew their every floor and came out the top of the building, and continued into the sky.

Everyone was shocked, stunned silence filled the monitoring room. All Might slowly raised the mic. "The hero team... wins!"

I looked over at the other camera. Ochaco had managed to grab the weapon in the ensuing chaos. Looks like they had a plan after all.

The smoke and dust began to clear from Izuku' attack. I looked at Izuku, and was horrified. The arm he used in the attack was broken, red and angry. His other arm, he used to try and block Bakugo's attack. He had been burned, badly. I could see the pain in his eyes.

I could feel the tears running down my face. I could do nothing but watch helplessly as he went limp, and fell to the ground.

~~~~~Mina's POV~~~~~

I put my arm around Hannah's shoulders. She looked at me with tears falling down her face, clearly upset by what just happened.

"Are you alright, Han?" She shook her head and wiped away a tear.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just..." I nodded my head and held her closer. It was obvious that Hannah cared for Midoriya's well-being greatly.

"I know." We've all had those moments, when you just need a hug or a shoulder to cry on. I've been there a few times myself.

Eventually, the tears stopped and she took a deep, shaky breath to calm herself. Her eyes were red and tired looking. But the smile on her face said she was alright now.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tsu and Yumi were making their way over to us.

"Ah, look at you two lovebirds. Enjoying your time together?" Yumi received a smack to the cheek from Tsuyu's tongue.

"Hannah, you've been crying. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Tsu." She playfully ruffled her hair, which I found endlessly adorable.

"Ribbit."

"Yeah, she was just worried about Midoriya. She'll be fine, she's a big girl." I gently patted her on the back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Han. I didn't realize," Yumi quickly gave her a hug.

"It's fine, Yumi." She gave a smile and hugged her back. It was nice to see Hannah smiling again, I didn't like seeing a girl as pretty as her crying.

The door opened and that smile dropped. All Might, along with Uraraka, Iida and Bakugo, walked in. I took a look at Hannah and she was staring straight at Bakugo. Tsu and Yumi had also noticed Hannah's quick change of mood.

I saw a flicker of blue towards the bottom of my vision and looked down at it. There was blue electricity flowing along Hannah's hands. My eyes widened and I quickly realized she was about to do something rash. Yumi came to the same conclusion, stepping in front of Hannah.

"Han, I know what you're thinking. It's not a good idea." Hannah clenched her fists, and tried to push past her.

Yumi put her hand on Hannah's shoulder. "Just breath." She breathed in and out, showing Hannah what to do. The girl closed her eyes, and started breathing deeper.

"Nice thoughts, alright?" Hannah nodded, continuing to take deep breaths. She opened her eyes and the electricity stopped flowing. She looked around at us, then back to Yumi.

"Thanks, Yumi." Yumi patted her shoulder.

"You alright? You're not going to go pimp slap anyone after class, right?" She received a nod.

"No, I want to hear you say it."

"I'm not going to pimp slap anyone after class."

"Alright, you better not."

Tsu put her finger against her mouth. "Wow, Yumi. You handled that like a pro."

"Oh, it's just a breathing techique I taught her." Yumi nonchalantly waved it off.

I started bouncing up and down. "Wow Yumi, could you teach me that? It seems nice."

"Uhh, sure. After class?" I nodded excitedly. "Great. It's a date."

Eventually, the villain hideout was repaired, and we were able to get on with the mock battles. Yumi and Momo were able to secure the weapon against Koji Koda and Rikido Sato, no relation to Hannah Sato, and in the last match, Tsu and Fumikage Tokoyami were able to defend until time ran out against Hanta Sero and Eijiro Kirishima.

After we got done, All Might gathered us up in front of the main gate.

"That's a wrap! Super work. You really stepped up to the plate. And, we didn't have any major injuries, except for Midoriya. You should be proud. Excellent first day of training, all around!" He shot us all a thumbs up.

"It's nice to hear some encouraging words after our homeroom class," Tsuyu said. "Mr. Aizawa was kind of a buzzkill."

"I'm happy to bring such staggering positivity to my alma mater! That's all for now, folks. I should go and check on Young Midoriya's progress! Now, watch how a pro exits. Like he's got somewhere to be!" He geared up and was gone in a second, a trail of smoke the only thing he left.

After we got changed out of our costumes, Yumi, Tsu, Ochaco, Hannah and I started walking back to homeroom. Yumi and I were talking about the breathing technique Yumi had Hannah doing earlier, and Ochaco and Tsu were talking about what they were doing after school. I noticed Hannah was spacing out again, so I gently tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" She jumped slightly, but smiled at me.

"Yeah, I've just got some stuff on my mind." She stopped walking and turned around.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I need to go see someone real quick." She started off towards the nurse's office. I couldn't help but guess that someone she needed to see was a certain green-haired boy.

"What if you're late getting back? You know Mr. Aizawa isn't very fond of that!"

"Just make something up." Why did I have a feeling that wouldn't work all that well?


	10. Got Some Time to Talk

Chapter 10: Visit in the Nurses' Office  
-

My leg started bouncing up and down impatiently as I sat on the bench just outside Recovery Girls' office. It felt like I was waiting forever, but I was sure it had only been a few minutes. The door to her office was closed, which Mina told me usually meant that she was treating someone.

I was waiting to see Izuku, whenever Recovery Girl was done with his treatment. I just wanted to see him smile again. The look of pain on his face was almost too much for me. I could feel the anger bubbling up again just thinking about it.

"Bakugo." I clenched my fists in my lap thinking about the blonde boy. I had always had issues with my temper, ever since kindergarten. I had been doing a pretty good job of keeping if under control until earlier today. I guess seeing Izuku in pain like that just kind of set me off. If it wasn't for Yumi, who knows what would've happened.

The sound of a door opening brought me back to reality. I turned to my right to see Recovery Girl come through the door. I stood up and dusted off my skirt, the action getting the attention of the elderly nurse.

"Ahh, Ms. Sato. I assume you're here to see Midoriya?" I nodded.

"Yes, ma'am. How is he?" I held my hands to my chest, hoping it wasn't as bad as it had looked.

"He's doing just fine. He was too exhausted for my Quirk to be of any major use, so I couldn't treat all his injuries at once. I did some first aid, but we may have to wait for his body to heal on it's own overnight." I breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Would... Would it be okay if I could see him?" I tried to look into her office, but I couldn't see much, besides the usual stuff you'd find in a nurse's office.

"I guess it couldn't hurt. Don't take too long, though. Classes are about to resume soon, plus he needs his rest." I smiled and nodded to her, watching as she walked off down the hall. I entered the room and laid my eyes upon the prone, sleeping form of Izuku.

I walked over to the opposite side of his bed, not taking my eyes off him once. Pulling up a rolling chair, I watched as his chest rose and fell gently. His right arm was heavily wrapped in a cast, and he had an IV in his left arm, presumably due to the burns he suffered from Bakugo's attack.

I sat there for a bit just watching him, feeling my cheeks redden slightly. He looked so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb him. I reached up and gently moved a lock of hair out of his face, lingering for a second to feel the softness of it.

My hand made it's way down to his and gently took hold of it. His hand felt so soft, if class didn't start soon, I think I would've stayed there holding it. I chuckled to myself softly and smiled.

"Alright, maybe I do have a crush on you."

~~~~~Izuku's POV~~~~~

I slowly opened my eyes, quickly shutting them again when I was blinded by the mid afternoon sun filtering in through the blinds. I looked away from the window and opened my eyes again, quickly realizing I was in Recovery Girl's office. I didn't see her here, though. She must be off somewhere else.

Looking down at myself, my right arm was heavy bandaged. To be expected, I guess. I looked over at my left arm and saw an IV sticking out. I was never a fan of needles, but I guess it was necessary.

It was only now that I became aware that someone was sitting next to my bed. I could feel a hand in mine, and starting blushing. No one had ever held my hand before. Well, my mom has, but not since I was younger.

I took a quick look over at who was sitting next to me. At the same time, they looked over at me. We made eye contact and we both froze, just looking at each other for a few seconds.

"H-Hannah?"

"I-I-Izuku! You're awake!" She quickly pulled her hand away, but the chair she was sitting on rolled out from under her. She fell to the floor and landed hard, a cry of pain leaving her mouth.

"Oww!"

"Hannah! Are you okay?!" I quickly sat up and immediately regretted it, pain shooting through my body.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She rolled over and gingerly stood up, holding her butt. "I slid off the front of the chair." She laughed and flashed me a grin.

"Oh, that's good. I'd hate for you to get hurt." I smiled back at her. She grabbed the chair and sat back down, wincing slightly.

"So, what are you doing here? Doesn't class start soon?" She blushed and nodded her head, twisting her hair around her finger.

"Y-Yeah, but I thought I'd come and see how you were doing." I felt my cheeks heat up, and I rubbed the back of my head with my now free hand.

"O-Oh, thank you. Y-You didn't have to, though."

She tilted her head and looked at me, slightly blushing the entire time. "Well, I wanted to."

I smiled at her and looked down at my lap, trying to hide the blush now quickly spreading across my face.

"H-How did the rest of the battles go?" She looked at me questioningly, probably not expecting the change of subject.

"Oh, umm, about as expected. Yumi and Momo won easily, as did Tsu and Tokoyami."

"Yeah, I expected them to do well. They're Quirks really compliment each other." I looked at Hannah and I could tell something was bothering her. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something felt off.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I've been wanting to ask you something. I just wasn't sure how to go about it."

"Oh, okay. What is it?

"Well, you know the journal that you showed me earlier today?" I nodded, recalling this morning before we got our costumes.

"Do you think I could look at it again?

"O-Oh, sure. It should be in my bag." I pointed over to the other side of my bed. I watched as she got up and walked around the foot of the bed, crouching down next to my bag. I couldn't help but notice the way her hair flowed as she moved, the air rushing by causing it to flutter slightly.

Hannah's voice suddenly broke me from my thoughts. "Hero Analysis for the Future?" I blushed slightly as she read it out.

"Yep, that's it." She stood back up and walked back around to her chair, and sat down. She flipped through a few pages and turned to me.

"Wow, you have notes on a lot more heroes than just me."

"Heh, yeah. I just use it to jot down my analysis of Heroes and their Quirks, if I come across them." I watched her flip through a few more pages, stopping on occasion to quickly read a few notes.

"This is incredibly well-written, Izuku." I blushed and smiled. I've never met someone as interested in learned about Quirks as me before. The look on Hannah's face as she browsed through my journal was one that I found quite cute.

She soon turned to the page I had shown her earlier. I had quickly sketched Hannah on the left page this morning, and wrote down what I remembered from the previous night on the right. I watched as she read through what I had down.

"Well, there's a few things missing, but you got mostly everything." She giggled and handed me my journal back. "I could help you update that, if you want."

"Really?"

"Of course, I wouldn't mind. Although, that may be an issue." She pointed at my right arm.

"Oh yeah. I guess it would be kind of hard to write with a cast." We shared a laugh and I rubbed the back of my neck. I looked back at her. "Yeah, that would be cool."

She smiled at me, and once again, I couldn't help but smile back. I wasn't kidding when I said Hannah's smiles were infectious. This time though, neither of us broke eye contact. I could feel the blush returning across my cheeks, and I could see the blush spreading across her cheeks, as well.

"I-Izuku..."

"Hannah..."

A voice cut in between us like a knife. "I hate to interrupt this tender moment, but if Ms. Sato doesn't get going right now, she'll be late for class."

We both looked over at the door. Recovery Girl had walked in and hopped up into her chair. Both of us could've lit up a neighborhood with our blushes. Hannah took a look at the watch on her wrist and her eyes widened.

"Oh, crap! Mr. Aizawa is gonna kill me!" She jumped out of the her chair, grabbing her bad as she did.

"I'm glad we could talk, Izuku. I'll see you later!" She waved and practically flew out of the room. I waved back as she rounded the corner, the sound of her footsteps growing quieter as she left.

"Quite a girl you got there." I blushed and looked over at Recovery Girl.

"W-What do you mean? W-We're not dating!" I wasn't sure if my cheeks could handle any more blushing today.

"In any case, you need to get some rest if you want me to heal your injuries any further." She was right. I'd be up and moving quicker if she used her Quirk to heal me, but if I don't have enough stamina, it could end up killing me.

I carefully laid back down, taking a deep breath to try and clear the blush that persisted on my cheeks, and closed my eyes, sleep enveloping me almost immediately.

~~~~~Hannah's POV~~~~~

"What took you so long, Hannah? I didn't think you'd make it back in time."

"Oh, hush."

I had made it back with a minute to spare. Thankfully, Mr. Aizawa was nowhere to be seen yet. I plopped down in my seat and Mina had immediately rushed over, eager to see if she could squeeze any information out of me.

"Did you go see Midoriya?"

"Yes, I did. No, we didn't do much, we just talked."

"Aww, you're no fun." The pink-skinned girl crossed her arms and pouted.

"Oh, you'll be fine." I ruffled her hair, being careful of the small horns protruding from her head. She knocked my hand away.

"Alright, now you asked for it." She lunged at me, aiming to mess up my hair.

"Hey! Your hair is always messy!" I grabbed her wrists and tried to hold her back.

"Yeah, well..." She giggled, letting me know that she wasn't actually mad with me. Our struggle continued until a voice sounded through the room.

"If you two are finished acting like children, I have a class to teach." We both froze in place and turned to see Mr. Aizawa walk in the door. His usual uninterested expression was betrayed by the commanding and annoyed tone of his voice. I don't think I'd ever seen Mina move as fast as she did to get back to her seat.

The rest of class went by rather uneventfully. Mr. Aizawa gave us our assignment, walked back to the front of the class and got in his sleeping bag to nap til the bell rang.

The assignment itself wasn't all that hard, and I soon found myself chatting with Tsu, Yumi and Mina.

"Does anyone know what the weather is looking like the rest of this week?"

Tsu put her finger against her mouth. "I think the weatherman said it would be raining until Friday."

Yumi chuckled. "Bet you're happy about that, Tsu."

"Of course, I love the rain."

"It doesn't make for good outdoor activities, though." Mina crossed her arms and I looked over at her.

"Why? Did you have something planned?"

"I was just thinking we could go down to the beach." I nodded my head in agreement.

"That would be a good plan if it wasn't going to raining."

Yumi chimed in. "What about the weekend? From what Tsu said, it sounds like it'll be dry."

"I'm up for it." I looked at the others. "What about you guys?"

"I should be able to go. But I need to see if any of my bikini's still fit." Yumi grinned and rubbed the back of her neck.

Tsuyu smiled and tilted her head. "Any chance to be in the water is a chance that I'll happily take."

"Great! It's a date then!" Mina clapped her hands together excitedly.

Everyone looked up as the door slid open, revealing a quite tired looking Izuku. His right arm was now in a sling and he had a gauze patch on his cheek. He walked in and was immediately surrounded by half the class, minus Yumi and I, plus a few others.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Bakugo staring at the crowd. It looked as if he was trying to bore through them with his eyes. He must have still been sore about losing.

The crowd soon dispersed, and Izuku made his way to his seat. We made eye contact and smiled at each other. He sat down and turned so that he could face me.

"I'm glad to see you up and walking around. How's your arm?"

"It's much better. Recovery Girl wanted me to wear the sling for the rest of the day, just to be safe."

"I bet. You look incredibly tired." As if in response, he let out a yawn.

"Yeah, her Quirk does that, heh." He smiled again and my heart fluttered in response. I looked at his arm again and a thought formed in my head. I absentmindedly started twisting my hair around my finger again

"H-Hey, would you like for me to walk you home?" His eyes widened slightly in surprise and he started blushing wildly.

"U-Uhh... I-Isn't that w-what I'm supposed to s-say?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Yea, but... you're not exactly in the best fighting shape if anything were to happen. I'd hate if you got hurt again."

He calmed down a little and thought about it for a second, while I accidentally lost myself in his eyes.

"Yeah, that w-would be nice." I smiled and could feel a slight blush on my cheeks.

"Cool. Meet you out front?"

"Yeah." We smiled at each other again, before having to turn our attention to Present Mic as he walked in the door to begin English class.

After class, Izuku told me he had to go find someone, and to wait for him. As I sat at the top of the steps leading to UA front doors, I felt a small vibration in the pocket of my blazer. Reaching in and taking out my phone, I saw I had a notification. I quickly put in my password and took a look.

 **AlienQueen** : Now what are you doing sitting there by yourself?  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : What do you want, Mina?  
 **AlienQueen:** Nothing! I just saw you sitting out on the steps and I was wondering what you were doing.  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : I'm waiting for someone.  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Wait, you can see me? Where are you?  
 **AlienQueen** : Whoa, never mind that! Who are you waiting for? ;)  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : A friend...  
 **AlienQueen** : Is it a boy?  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : ...Maybe  
 **AlienQueen** : Is he cute?  
 **HanWantsToBattle:**...

I heard footsteps approaching me and I look up from my phone, my hazel eyes rising to meet the pure, green eyes of Izuku.

"Hey! Took you long enough." I got up and dusted off the back of my skirt.

"Yeah, s-sorry. I was seeing if there was any homework I missed while I was in Recovery Girls' office."

"Oh, that's okay. You could've asked me, although we didn't have much." I felt my phone vibrating again, and opened it up.

 _ **AlienQueen shared an image -**_  
 __ **AlienQueen** : I knew it!  
 __ **HanWantsToBattle** : So that's where you are.  
 **AlienQueen** : I'm nowhere!  
 **AlienQueen** : No! Don't you dare put your phone away! Tell me everything!

I put my phone back in my pocket and looked up at Izuku. "So, ready to go?"

"Yep, lead the way." I gave him a look.

"We're going to your house, so I think you probably should do that."

"O-Oh. That makes a lot more sense." We both shared a laugh at that, as we made our way down the steps and out through the gate.


	11. Staying, Just for the Night

Izuku and I made light conversation as we weaved our way towards his house. Neither of us was in much of a hurry, as we were enjoying being in each other's company. Eventually, I hooked him into talking about our favorite heroes.

"Of course All Might is your favorite hero. He's everyone's favorite hero."

He chuckled a bit. "Oh yeah, that's a good point. Is there anyone else you like?" I put my hand on my chin and though for a bit.

"Mr. Aizawa would be higher on my list if he wasn't so scary sometimes." I thought back to the physical tests yesterday, when Mr. Aizawa told us the one who did the worst would be expelled.

"Yeah, he can be pretty terrifying. His Quirk is amazing, though."

"Oh my god, it's so cool. It looks awesome when his hair goes crazy when he uses it." I grabbed my hair and tried to make it look like it was flying around like Mr. Aizawa's, failing miserably. Izuku looked back at me and bursted out laughing, which in turn caused me to start cracking up.

"I-I don't really think it works for you," he said, in between laughs. He reached up and wiped a tear away.

"Yeah, I didn't think it would." I caught my breath and went about trying to fix the mess I had made. I rung my fingers through my hair and suddenly felt a drop of rain land on my knuckle. I looked up at the sky and gently tap Izuku on the shoulder.

"You didn't happen to bring an umbrella, did you?" He stopped and looked at me.

"No, why?" He jumped slightly when a few more drops fell on his head. He looked up at the sky with me. The sky that had started as slightly cloudy when we left was now dominated by grey, low clouds. I felt another drop land on my cheek.

"We should start hurrying. Who knows how long it's just going to sprinkle like this." He nodded and we started up the sidewalk at an increased pace.

When we got to Izuku's apartment, the weather had gotten worse. The clouds had opened and it was downpouring by the time we turned off the sidewalk and approached the staircase leading up to Izuku's floor. We walked up to his front door, and he pulled a key out of his pocket, quickly unlocking it and stepping inside.

"Mom, I'm home!" He kicked off his shoes next to the register to dry.

"Oh, Izuku, honey! There you are. I was starting to get worried." She came in from what I assumed was the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks when she saw me.

"Izuku, who's this? I wasn't expecting company, I would've made extra for dinner." Izuku blushed slightly and went about explaining why there was a soaking wet stranger in her living room.

"Mom, this is Hannah." I politely waved at her. "She's a friend from my class. She had offered to walk home with me, but we got caught in the storm. I hope it's alright that she says for a bit, at least until it's done raining."

"Oh, of course. Any friend of Izuku is a friend of mine." I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself, my teeth starting to chatter. Izuku's mom took notice and stepped towards me. She put her arm around me, despite myself being soaked, and looking up at Izuku.

"Izuku, could you go up and get some towels? One for her to sit on and another to wrap herself with."

He nodded and started heading up the stairs, but his mom stopped him again. "Oh, and could you get out of those wet clothes? I don't want you catching a cold."

"Will do, Mom." He resumed climbing the steps, while his mom had me kick off my shoes by the register.

He quickly returned with two towels, giving one to his mom and I took a look at him. He didn't seem to have put much effort in, as he just threw on a plain, white shirt and blue sweatpants.

Izuku's mom laid down the towel given to her on the coach, so I could sit down without getting the entire couch wet.

"Thank you, Mrs. Midoriya." I felt another towel get placed around my shoulders. I looked over my shoulder and blushed as my eyes met Izuku's. He blushed in response, but recollected himself quicker than I could, smiling back at me. I managed to smile back and watched him head back upstairs.

"How are you doing now, Hannah?" I turned back to face Mrs. Midoriya, who was back in the kitchen preparing a meal of some kind.

"Much better, thank you." I stood up and stretched. "Maybe I should think about heading home. My mom is probably worried by now." As if in response, a large crack of thunder split the air outside, the accompanying thunder causing the ground to rumble.

I turned to look at her again. "On second thought, maybe I should stay."

"Sounds like a plan. You go ahead and let your mother know where you are. I'll see if we have any clothes you can change into." I looked down at myself, remembering the still wet uniform that was clinging to my skin.

"Oh yeah, that would be nice. You mind if I use your shower?"

"Not at all. It's upstairs, first door on your left." I quickly took my phone out of my pocket, luckily it wasn't too wet, and texted my mom, telling her that I was staying at a friends house due to the storm

"Thank you." I gave her a smile and headed up the stairs. At the top were two doors, the left being the bathroom and the right being Izuku's room. I looked in and saw Izuku playing Street Fighter. I never took him for a gamer, but I wasn't complaining.

I turned left and opened the bathroom door. Closing the door, I started stripping off my uniform and looked around. The walls were painted a pleasant blue, my favorite color. The sink, mirror and a cabinet were to my left, the tub in front of me and toilet to my right. Next to the toilet, was a holding rack for towels, presumably for when you get out of the shower.

I dropped my tie and undershirt on the floor and reached down to unhook my skirt. Before my hands got to the clasp, a thought entered my mind. I opened the door and stuck my head out, peering into Izuku's room.

"Hey, Izuku?"

"Yeah?"

"Is there a clothes hamper nearby? I don't want to leave wet clothes on the floor."

"Oh sure. Lemme get it." I heard him pause his game and get up. A few seconds later, a small hamper appeared within reach. Attached to it, a lightly blushing Izuku stood, making sure not to look. He's such a gentleman.

"Thanks." I took it and quickly finished undressing. Setting my clothes in the hamper, I walked over to the shower, turning the knob to get the water going. I waited until the water heated up, stepped in, and almost burned myself.

Eventually, I was able to properly operate the shower. The shampoo wasn't the kind I was used to, mine being lavender-scented, but I could survive a day smelling like peppermint.

I suddenly remembered the night Izuku helped me get Yumi home. We hugged goodbye and his hair smelled like peppermint. My cheeks blushed wildly as I made the connection. I had accidentally used Izuku's shampoo. I hoped he wouldn't be able to tell.

Gathering myself together, I got changed into the clothes Mrs. Midoriya had given me for the night, a tshirt and a particularly comfortable pair of sweatpants. They were a little oversized, but they would work for one night. I noticed that a bra hadn't been provided, but I never slept with one on, so that didn't bother me too much. I did hope I'd get it back for tomorrow, though.

I walked into Izuku's room and hopped onto his bed, laying on my stomach to watch him play. He looked at me when he heard me enter and smiled.

"Hey, how was your shower?"

"It was nice. Much better than being rained on."

"I'd bet." He offered me a controller. "You wanna play?"

A chance to show off my Street Fighter skills?! Not something I would voluntarily pass up. "Sure, I never got to beat you at Ochaco's." I took the controller from his hand and quickly selected my character.

"Is that a challenge?" He cocked his head back at me.

"Only if you want it to be." He selected his character, and the match was on.

I should've kept my mouth shut. After 5 matches, he'd beaten me 4-1. I sat on his bed pouting slightly as he did a little dance to celebrate his victory. To be honest, I couldn't be too mad, it was fair and square throughout. Plus his dance was pretty cute. Doesn't mean I wasn't a little salty.

I tapped him on the shoulder. "Best 2 out of 3?"

He looked at me and raised his eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Hey, I got halfway there!" He smirked at me and turned back to the screen.

"You're on."

"Come on, Hannah. It's time to get up. Izuku is already downstairs."

"Mmm, five more minutes, please." I snuggled up with the blanket Izuku had given me.

"Well, it's not my fault you two were up late playing video games." Mrs. Midoriya turned away and shook her head. "Children these days." An idea formed in her head and she turned to call downstairs.

"Izuku! Come quick! Hannah's not breathing, I think she needs CPR!"

"What?!" I heard a chair fall over and footsteps rush up the stairs. My eyes snapped open and I quickly sat up.

"I'm awake! That's not necessary!" I saw Izuku rush to the door with a very concerned look on his face. Once he saw that I was indeed awake, his entire body slumped and he looked at his mom.

"Mom, please don't do that, You almost gave me a heart attack." She tried to suppress a giggle.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I just couldn't resist." She gave him a hug and made her way downstairs to finish making breakfast. Izuku walked over to me, probably very relieved that I didn't actually need CPR.

"I hate it when she does that." I laughed and gave a big stretch, feeling the satisfying popping of my muscles and joints waking up after having slept on the floor. Izuku offered me his hand with a smile and I couldn't help but blush. I gently placed my hand in his and he hauled to my feet like it was nothing. We stood there for a few seconds looking at each other before his mom chimed in.

"Kids, breakfast is ready!" We were broken out of our trance and started blushed more at each other. We quickly made our way downstairs, and I could've swore Mrs. Midoriya saw the blush on my face. Breakfast was already on the table, eggs and toast with a side of orange juice. I sat next to Izuku and started digging in.

"So, you actually know CPR?" I had been curious about it since Mrs. Midoriya brought it up. He took a sip of juice before looking at me.

"Oh yeah. I've been wanting to be a hero since I was young. But I needed to know how to save people first, so mom signed me up for CPR classes." He scooped up the last bit of egg on his plate and popped into his mouth.

"And just like the Izuku I know, he placed near the top of his class." His mom came over and sat across from us.

"Mom, the class wasn't that hard. Besides, they only taught us the basics, chest compressions, breathing, stuff like that." He waved his hands around for emphasis.

"Well, it still sounds handy to have, just in case." I laughed and finished the rest of my juice.

We finished our breakfast and started getting ready for classes. Fortunately, Mrs. Midoriya had gotten my uniform washed and dried quickly, along with Izuku's. A race of the stairs to the bathroom ended with my defeat, but soon enough we were dressed and ready to go.

I took a quick look outside through the front windows, curious as to the weather. "You've gotta be kidding me." It was still raining. Granted, it wasn't storming like it was last night, but it was still coming down pretty steadily. Izuku walked up behind me and looked outside.

"Hey, Mom. Do you know where the umbrellas are?"

"Uhh, let me go look for them." I heard her go off somewhere else in the house in search of the umbrellas. I kneeled down and rested my elbows on the windowsill. As much as I didn't like getting soaked, I actually really liked the rain. Oftentimes when it rained, you could find me staring out an open window just listening. Or sleeping.

I heard Izuku get down next to me and rest his head on his hands, giving a big sigh.

"Don't like the rain?" I asked, looking over at him.

"No, not really. You can't really go out and do anything when it rains."

"Well, you can, but you'd be soaked." He tilted his head towards me in recognition.

"Okay, good point."

"I just like to listen to it. It's really comforting." I laid my head down on my arms and closed my eyes, proceeding to listen to the rain gently landing on the ground.

I raised my head and looked at Izuku, catching him staring at me again. This time though, he didn't immediately look away. We sat there staring at each other, as our blushes started creeping across our cheeks. I could feel him start closing the short distance between us and I closed my eyes in anticipation.

"I found an umbrella!" Mrs. Midoriya called from the stairs. Izuku jumped higher than a cat, and I nearly fell backwards onto my backside. My heart was still beating quickly from what nearly happened, and I could tell Izuku was just as equally affected.

Mrs. Midoriya appeared at the bottom of the stairs with an umbrella. "I could only find one, I didn't want to accidentally cause you two to be late." She handed it to Izuku.

"Thank, Mom." She gave him a hug and turned to look at me. I silently hoped she didn't noticed the redness of my cheeks.

"Hannah, it was nice having you here, even if it was unexpected." She bowed to me.

"Thank you, I had fun." I politely returned her bow and walked over to Izuku.

"Are you ready to go, Hannah?" I nodded and smiled at him, receiving a heart-melting smiles back. He opened the door and we walked out into the early morning shower.

Izuku and I had to walk close to each other due to only having the one umbrella, but I honestly don't think either of us minded. The walk up to the main campus didn't take long, the rain even lightening up some.

We turned the corner and stopped briefly. It looked like a large group of people was huddled around the main gate, a few umbrellas poking out of the top. They were pestering most people who walked by, causing them to walk away at an increased pace.

"Media," I muttered. Izuku nodded his head.

"They must have heard that All Might had taken a job here." He took a breath and looked at me. "Well, there's only one way in. You ready?" I nodded my head and we made our way to the crowd.

Almost immediately, a reporter wearing a blue suit shoved a microphone in our faces. "Hey, you two! Can you tell us what it's like to work so closely with All Might?" Izuku tensed up and started stuttering, but I had planned for this, and had an answer ready.

"I'm sorry, but I need to get him to the nurse's office. He's not feeling very well." I placed my hand on Izuku's back and gently urged him forward to make it slightly more convincing. I could feel him breathe a sigh of relief and he looked at me.

"Thank you for that, Hannah." He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and brought me into a hug of appreciation, one I quickly reciprocated. We separated and walked inside, Izuku closing the umbrella and placing it back in his bag.

We soon made our way to Class 1-A. The sound of conversation filtered through the door, so we weren't the the first ones here. I felt a slight hesitation as i reached for the handle. Mina had clearly seen me leave with Izuku yesterday, and she's not exactly the kind of person to keep something to herself.

Izuku laid a hand on my shoulder, almost as if he could sense my apprehension, and I unconsciously leaned into him. He gave me a smile and grabbed the handle, sliding the door open.

We walked in and I could immediately feel a few pairs of eyes on me. I ignored them and walked over to my desk, Izuku following since his was just in front of mine. As soon as I sat down, Mina and Yumi coyly slid over from their desks and sat looking at Izuku and I.

"So, how'd it go?" Yumi asked. I looked at her, trying to act confused.

"What do you mean?" I saw Izuku take notice of the conversation out of the corner of my eye, but he didn't turn around.

"Oh, I think you know what we mean." Mina pulled out her phone and quickly showed me the picture she sent me yesterday. I knew the jig was up and I shook my head.

"Not as much as you guys probably think. All I did was walk him home." Mina leaned closer.

"Oh, yeah? What did you do when it started storming?" Crap. I couldn't say I was already home by then, Yumi knows I don't live very closely to UA. It was now that Izuku turned around to save me from the gossipy wrath of these two.

"It started raining by the time we got to my house. My mom and I let her stay for a bit and when the rain lightened up, she went home with a borrowed umbrella." He looked back at me with a smile and a knowing blush. I sent back a relieved smile and a nod.

Before Mina or Yumi could reply, Present Mic bursted in with his usual flair. "Hey, everybody, look alive! It's time for English!" I could hear a collective groan as Yumi and Mina returned to their seats and Izuku turned around. I leaned forward and tapped him on the back, causing him to turn around again.

"Thank you," I mouthed, not wanting to interrupt Present Mic plans for the day.

"You're welcome," he mouthed back. We smiled at each other and turned our attention back to the front of the class.


	12. A Shoulder to Cry On

The rest of the day went by rather quickly. English went by without much trouble, as did Math and Literature. Eventually, we found ourselves in the break time before lunch. Everyone was sitting in their own little groups, as most classes do, all of them talking about different subjects.

Izuku had turned in his seat to face me basically as soon as break time started. We started a conversation about our gaming session the past night. I did end up winning two more matches before I passed out on his bed at about 1 in the morning. So that was an accomplishment.

"I could've gone a little easier on you, I guess." He rubbed the back of his head, but smiled at me.

"Don't you even dare. The only way I'll get better is if I play against better players."

He smirked at me. "Oh, so you admit I'm better?" I realized my mistake too late and sat back in my seat with a slight pout, earning a chuckle from the green-haired boy.

All conversation stopped when Mr. Aizawa entered the room. He looked around the room, and walked to the front of the class, seemingly satisfied with the response time.

"Decent work on yesterday's combat training, you guys. I saw the video feeds and went over each of your team's results. Bakugo." He turned to the boy who was sat in front of Izuku. "You're talented. So don't sulk like a child about your loss, okay?" The only response he received was a grumble.

"And Midoriya." Izuku jumped to attention in front of me. I covered my mouth to stifle a giggle. "I see the only way you won the match was by messing up your arm again. Work harder. And don't give me the excuse that you don't have control over your Quirk. That line's already getting old. You can't keep breaking your body while training here.

"But your Quirk will be really useful if you can get a handle on it. So show a little urgency, huh?" Izuku perked up at this last bit.

"Right."

The look on Mr. Aizawa's face then became serious. "Alright, let's get down to business. Our first task will decide your future." He paused for a second for dramatic effect. "You all need to pick a class representative." The entire class let out a sigh of relief.

After all the commotion of everyone throwing their hat into the ring, Tenya got everyone's attention and suggested we take a vote. Everyone agreed and we soon had everyone place their votes into a box. After all the votes were tallied, Tenya wrote the results on the blackboard and gave a small fist pump.

He had gotten the most votes, with 4. Momo was behind him on 3 votes, and everyone else had two or less. I couldn't help but feel like most of the class voted for themselves. I quickly scrolled through the list and found my name.

"Two votes," I said, feeling slightly relieved. I wasn't the kind of person to wanna stand up and take charge. Although, two people obviously felt otherwise. I leaned forward and gently tapped Izuku on the shoulder.

"Hey, who did you vote for?" He turned to me and started blushing.

"Oh. I-I, umm, I voted for you." I could feel my cheeks heat up slightly. "What about you? W-Who did you vote for?" he asked, sending me a smile back.

"I voted for you too," I softly replied.

"O-Oh, thank you. Y-You didn't have to, though." Izuku's face reddened as he spoke.

"I-I know, but..." I started twisting my hair again. "...I wanted to." He smiled and reached for my hand, placing his overtop of mine. We looked up at each other, each of us smiling and wanting to lose ourselves in each other. We may have stayed that way if a certain pink-skinned gossip hound hadn't shown up.

"Having fun, you two?" Izuku and I jumped, startled by Mina's sudden appearance. My right knee slammed against the bottom of my desk, pain shooting up through my body as I gasped and clutched my knee.

"Hannah, are you alright?!" Izuku started getting out of his seat, but stopped when I waved him off.

"I'm fine. I just banged my knee against the desk." I gave him a smile to assure him I was fine and turned to Mina, who had an apologetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry, Han. I wasn't meaning to startle you guys that much." I leaned over and gave her a hug, the pain in my knee already subsiding.

"It's alright, Mina. I know you didn't mean it." I went to ruffle her hair again, but she knocked my hand away before I got close. She glared at me in annoyance, but before she could say anything the bell signaling the end of break time sounded.

"Yay, lunch! I'm starving!" Mina bounced to her feet and went back over to her desk to get her things packed up.

As we started packing our own things up, Izuku spoke up. "Hey, Hannah?" I was lost in thought, and it took a second for Izuku's word to reach me.

"Yeah, what is it?" I turned and looked at him, watching him try to find the words again.

"I-I was wondering... w-would you like to have lunch with m-me?" I blushed and smiled at him. I had stopped twisting my hair when Mina came over, but I now started doing it again.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." He blushed and smiled back at me, a relieved expression on his face. I stuffed my drawing notebook into my bag and slung it over my shoulder, looking at Izuku as I did so.

"Ready to go?" he asked. I happily nodded my head and together we made our way to the cafeteria.

Izuku and I were soon bombarded by the smells of all the different kinds of food that the cafeteria served. All of it together was enough to have my mouth watering before I had even grabbed a tray.

We made our way over to the end of the line at the back of the room and grabbed our trays, making small talk along the way. We had agreed that during lunch period, I would show him some of the drawing techniques I told him about yesterday. I honestly couldn't wait, he seemed really interested in drawing.

My eyes lit up when I spotted the tub of rice. UA's rice was so much better than the rice my Junior High made. It was one of the first things I fell in love with during my first day here. I lumped a big scoop onto my tray, earning a chuckle from Izuku.

"Do you need any more?" I looked back at him and laughed, blushing slightly.

"I would love more, but I don't want to take the entire tub."

"How considerate." I gave him a gentle punch to the arm, and we continued our way down the line, taking our favorites as we came across them. Eventually, we got the end of the line and headed to an empty booth, Izuku letting me slide in first.

After a few minutes of chewing and more small talk, I reached into my bag and pulled out my drawing notebook. I opened to an empty page and turned to him. He then reached into his own bag and grabbed a pencil. I didn't have any more with me, so that was nice of him to use his own.

"Well, let's get started with some basics." I remembered the quick sketch he had made of me and picked out a few things I had noticed. I drew a circle and slide the notebook closer to him. "Why don't you try drawing in a face?"

"Okay." He leaned forward and filled in the circle with eyes, a nose and mouth. It wasn't a bad first attempt, but there was room for progress. I drew another circle, this time adding small lines to show where the eyes, nose, and mouth will be located. I slid it back towards Izuku.

"That wasn't a bad first attempt. Now, I want you to try it with these lines. They'll show you where everything goes." He sketched them again and turned to me in child-like amusement.

"It was so much easier that time." I nodded my head and chuckled.

"Yep, that's what I thought the first time I used them. Try using lines like that to position facial features where you want them, plus how big they'll be." I drew more lines vertically by the eyes and one lower down the face to where the bottom of the ear would be, while Izuku looked on in eagerness.

Eventually, Izuku was able to sketch a decent looking face by himself. Not to say the sketch he made of me wasn't decent, but it could've been better. We went over how to draw semi-realistic hair and even started on the ever popular fruit basket, although I did most of the work on that.

Wow, thank you for the tips, Hannah. They were really helpful." I blushed slightly and giggled at his excitement.

"No problem, Izuku. Now, come on. Our food is getting cold."

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot." He turned back to his food as I took a bite of my sweet roll and reveled in the cinnamony taste, washing it down with the last of my orange juice.

"Hey, Hannah?" I looked over at Izuku. "I was just wondering, why do you want to become a hero?" I swallowed and hooked my hair behind my ear.

"Because I want to follow in my dad's footsteps." Izuku stopped in the middle of taking a bite out of his roll and looked at me, his eyes full of curiosity. I couldn't help but giggle. "Yep, you're looking at a second generation hero-in-training."

"Whoa! That's so cool. So, your parents are heroes, then?" He had forgotten about his food, so I helped myself to his last sweet roll.

"My dad was, my mom's Quirk wasn't exactly combat-oriented."

"What's your dad's Quirk?" His eyes widened when I held up my hand. The blue electricity signaling that my Quirk was active danced along my fingers, tickling them slightly. "You inherited his Quirk?" I nodded and smiled.

I looked over at him and saw that he had gotten out his journal and was scribbling something down. He stopped writing suddenly and looked at me with a questioning look on his face.

"Wait. You said he 'was' a hero. Did something happen?" I was about to finish off my rice, and stopped mid-motion when he asked. I bit my lip and held my hands in my lap, trying not to let the memories hit me too hard.

He must've realized he hit a sore spot, as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "I'm sorry, Hannah. I shouldn't have asked." I put my hand up to stop him.

"No, it's okay. I would've had to face it at some point." I could feel the tears in the corners of my eyes. I wiped them away and took a shaky breath.

"Back before I moved to Japan, my dad was more of a Semi-Pro Hero in the US. He called himself Semi-Pro because he didn't want to be involved with the all the media and the agencies. He told us he did that to keep them off of Mom and I. To protect us. But he would go to help whenever he could, using his Quirk to protect himself and those around him." I took another breath to try and calm myself.

"And even when the agencies came calling, wanting him to sign with them, he never did. He was a hero for the sake of being a hero. He didn't want money, he didn't want fame, he didn't want power. He was nice, and selfless, and genuinely the best dad I could've asked for." I could feel a tear start rolling down my cheek.

"One day, however, a fire broke out at a local school across town. He had picked me up from my own school and we were driving home when we saw the fire truck roll around the corner. We followed it to the school, he got out, and told me to stay in the car.

"H-He went inside and started carrying children out. I was watching he man who I admired almost as much as All Might basically save an entire class by himself." A sob got lodged in my throat and I felt Izuku pull me closer to himself.

"H-However, as time went on and he got more children out, he got slower and more tired looking. His clothes got more burned and singed. When he finally got the last of them out, h-he fell to the ground. The firefighters on the scene immediately called for an ambulance." I looked at Izuku and hooked my hair around my ear again.

"He was gone before they even got to the hospital." The tears came now, and I buried my face into the collar of Izuku's blazer. I could feel the damp patch they created as Izuku held me to himself, feeling every sob and sigh that ran through me. I wanted to cry in earnest, but I feared drawing attention to us.

"Hannah, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. No one should have to." He held me until my sobs started subsiding, at which point I removed my face from him and wiped away any remaining tears.

"Thank you, Izuku. There haven't been many people willing to give me their shoulder, besides my Mom and Yumi." I looked back at him. "You asked me why I wanted to become a hero, right?"

"Well, it's because I want to live up to his expectations." I tried to give the most determined look I could give, considering the situation. "And surpass them." Izuku looked at me, and gave me a smile that somehow also managed to be determined at the same time.

"Well, I'd like to help you do just that." I could feel my cheeks reddened again. He brought me into a hug, I guess so I couldn't argue against him. Not that I was going to. I quickly reciprocated his hug and the familiar smell of peppermint quickly filled my nose, forcing a smile to appear on my face.

Suddenly, a bell started ringing, and I immediately knew this wasn't the bell for the end of lunch. A woman's voice came over the intercoms.

"Warning. Level Three security breach. All students please evacuate the building in an orderly fashion." Izuku and I grabbed our bags and slid out of the booth. Everyone else was rushing to get to the exits, creating a mass of people moving like a tsunami.

We were getting jostled around by the crowd, and I felt someone step on my foot, causing me to trip. I fell to the ground, but Izuku grabbed my hand and helped me back up as best as he could in the middle of the crowd. He didn't let go until Tenya came flying up over the crowd, his engines spewing steam. He slammed against the wall above the door and yelled out to everyone.

"Listen up, everything is okay! It's just the media outside. There's absolutely nothing to worry about. Everything's fine!" He turned to look at everyone. "We're UA students. We need to remain calm and prove that we're the best of the best."

As he finished speaking, we could hear police sirens from outside. Everyone finally started settling down, and heading back to their seats.

Izuku turned to me with a look of concern. "Are you okay?" I gave him a nod and smiled at him.

"Yeah, thank you." He smiled back at me, causing me to start blushing again, which in turn caused him to start blushing. He stared at each other like that until the end of lunch bell sounded. It made me jump slightly and earned a chuckle from him.

"Come on, we should get to class." I nodded in agreement, grabbed my bag, and following the green-haired boy back to Class 1-A.

Izuku and I made it back to class with a minute to spare. Luckily for us, Mr. Aizawa was almost never in the room when the bell rang, so that bought us a bit of time. We walked over and took our seats.

"What took you so damn long, Deku?"

"O-Oh, I-I was just g-going to the b-bathroom." I looked up and saw Bakugo standing over Izuku's desk. Izuku was always skittish around him, this time wasn't any different. I ignored my better judgement and came to Izuku's defense.

"Back off, Bakugo." He turned to look at me, an arrogant smirk appearing on his face.

"And what about you, Energizer Bunny?" Did I just hear that correctly? I immediately stood up out of my seat, the chair sliding back into the desk behind.

"I'm sorry, what did you just call me!?"

"You heard me! Now, what were you and Deku doing that made you two so late?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Silence filled the room almost immediately. Everyone eyes were on Bakugo and I, wondering if a fight was going to start. We stared each other down for what seemed like an eternity.

"Unless you two would like to teach my class for me, I suggest you sit down. Now." Mr. Aizawa walked in, his usual, disinterested tone of voice replaced by one that commanded authority. He wasn't in a good mood, and Bakugo and I realized that. He went back to his seat and I sat back down, while Mr. Aizawa made his way to the front of the class.

"Today's training will be a little different. You'll have three instructors. Me, All Might, and another faculty member will be keeping tabs on you."

A boy, I think Mina said his name was Hanta Sero, spoke up. "Sir! What kinda training is this?" In response, Mr. Aizawa held up a white card with the word 'Rescue' printed on it in big, blue letters.

"Rescue. You'll be dealing with natural disasters, shipwrecks, stuff like that." The class started talking amongst each other, some excited by the prospect, others not so much. "Guys, I'm not finished yet." Everyone quieted at Mr. Aizawa's words.

"What you wear in this exercise is up to you. I know you're excited about costumes..." he held up a remote of some sort, and pressed a button. Our costumes appeared out of the wall, in the same way they did yesterday. "... but keep in mind that you haven't gotten used to them yet, and they might limit your abilities.

"This special training's at an off-campus facility, so we'll be taking a bus to get there. That's all. Start getting ready." Everyone got up and grabbed their costume case, except Izuku, considering Bakugo trashed it during the combat training. After I got my case, I walked over to Izuku.

"Meet you outside?" He flashed me a smile and a thumbs up, getting up himself and heading for the boys' changing room.

Eventually, everyone got dressed and waiting outside for the bus that will take us to rescue training to pull up. Izuku and I had found each other almost instantly, he's not hard to spot when he's the only one wearing PE clothes, and were throwing around suggestions about what we might when we go to where we were going.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ochako walking by us. I turned and waved quickly. "Hey, Ochako!" She turned to see who had called her and bounced toward us, bubbly as ever.

"Hannah!" She gave me a hug that nearly squeezed me in half. She was quite a bit stronger than she looked. She released me, while she assaulted Izuku next.

"Deku, why are you wearing your PE clothes? Where's your costume at?" Ochaco put him down and pointed at his substitute costume.

"You saw it after the combat training. It was kinda trashed. I'm still waiting on the support company to fix it up."

The bus pulled up and Tenya ushered us in, spouting something about our student numbers. It wasn't like any bus I'd seen before, the first few rows of seats were oriented facing in, so you're looking at the other side of the bus.

I quickly sat down in one of the first seats on the left, with Izuku, Mina and Yumi taking the rest of the seats on this side. Denki, Tenya, Tsu and Ochako took the other side, and the rest of the class filed into the rest of the seats. Izuku and I smiled at each other, eager to get on with our first bit of rescue training.

"There's two people here who are more than a little happy to be sitting next to each other." Mina teased from around Yumi. Izuku and I blushed, realizing our mistake. Never show any signs of emotion around Mina.

She's a bloodhound for that kind of thing.


	13. Our First Encounter With Evil

As the bus picked up speed and left UA behind, I lost myself in thought while listening to my classmates' conversations. My leg started bouncing, as I started to get nervous about what we'd have to do when we got to wherever we were going. If anything, it was most likely going to test us.

Almost as if he could sense my nervousness, I felt Izuku put a hand on my shoulder. I looked over at him, receiving a smile that managed to calm me down. I sent a quick smile back before Mina picked us up on her radar.

"Well, if any of our classmates have pro Quirks, its Todoroki, Bakugo, and Hannah." I quickly looked up upon hearing my name.

"Wait, what about my Quirk?" I asked, slightly confused.

Mina giggled in a way only she can. "We were talking about each other's Quirks, and Kirishima thinks that you, Todoroki and Bakugo have the flashiest in the class." A look of recognition came over my face and I blushed slightly.

"Eh, my Quirk isn't all that flashy. All it does is make me stronger and faster." Ochako bounced in her seat.

"Yeah, but you start making that cool blue electricity, too." She wriggled her fingers, trying to mimic the electricity that I produce. I held up my hand, said electricity flickering along my skin.

I nodded my head in her direction. "Alright, I guess you have a point."

Tsu tipped her finger against her mouth. "Sure, I can see Hannah and Todoroki, but Bakugo's always angry, so he'll never be that popular."

Bakugo immediately stood up from his seat. "What'd you say? I'll kick your ass!"

I saw a smirk appear on Denki's face. "Y'know, we basically just met you. So it's kinda telling that we all know your personality is flaming crap mixed with garbage." I covered my mouth and snickered, grabbing Bakugo's attention.

"You're both going to regret the day you applied to this school, you losers...! I'll kill you!"

Tenya tried to take charge of the situation. "Enough. Classmates should encourage each other!"

"I ain't gonna encourage these dumbasses!" He pointed to Denki and I.

"Alright, then all of you apologize." I could hear the subtle pleading in Tenya's voice as he tried to restore order.

"Sure, if Bakugo goes first." I didn't really want to be involved in the argument, but the words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them.

"Like hell I will!"

Mr. Aizawa stood up from his seat and looked out the front window. "Hey, hey, we're here. Stop messing around." Everyone immediately quicked down with a quick 'yes, sir'. Outside the front window, I could see a massive structure appear above the tree line. The butterflies in my stomach just came back.

Once the bus stopped, we all got off in front of the main gate. Behind the gate stood a dome-shaped building, where I assumed our training would take place. Yumi and Izuku stopped beside, Yumi marveling at the size of the place.

"Hello, everyone! I've been waiting for you!" We turned and caught sight of a hero wearing what appeared to be a puffy white jacket, a black helmet with white eyes, and a pair of yellow boots. Izuku and I immediately started geeking out, although I was at least able to hide it.

"It's the Space Hero, Thirteen! The chivalrous pro who's rescued a ton of people from disasters across the world!" Thirteen turned and instructed us to follow her inside.

The inside of the building looked like some kind of amusement park. From where we were, I could see four or five different areas. I assumed that each simulated different disasters. My assumption was quickly confirmed by Thirteen.

"A shipwreck. A landslide. A fire. A windstorm. Et cetera-" She threw out her arms, as if preparing to give someone the biggest hug ever. "I created this training facility to prepare you to deal with different types of disasters. I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. But, you can call it, USJ!"

Mr. Aizawa strolled up to Thirteen. "Hey, shouldn't All Might be here already? Lemme guess, he booked an interview instead."

"Actually, it's something else." She leaned in closer and whispered something into his ear. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but if Thirteen didn't want us to know, then there must be a good reason.

I found myself trying to stealthily lay my eyes on Izuku. We had really only known each other for a few days, but we had already spent so much time together. Even before we moved, I never found anyone that I could connect with so quickly, besides Yumi.

And every time we were near each other or I thought about him, I can't help but smile and blush. My heartbeat speeds up and I get flustered. I thought back to earlier this morning, before we had left for class. Izuku subtly closing the distance, his face coming closer to mine. I realized in that moment what he wanted, what I wanted.

I took a breath to try and calm down. These thoughts had gotten to me again, and a faint blush was appearing on my cheeks. I silently hoped no one would notice as I shook my head and made a decision.

Today would be the day that I let Izuku know how I really feel. Although, maybe it's best that I wait until after class, I don't want to distract him.

Mr. Aizawa's voice pulled me back to reality. "That man is the height of irresponsibility. Well, we should be okay with just the two of us." He turned to us. "The clock's ticking. We should get started." I couldn't see Thirteen's face through her helmet, but I imagined she couldn't wait to get going.

"Excellent! Before we begin, let me just say one thing. Well, maybe two things." She held up her hand. The tips of her fingers were covering in what looked like thimbles. "I'm sure you're aware that I have a powerful Quirk. It's called Black Hole. I can use it to suck up anything and turn it into dust."

Recognition spread across Izuku's face and he stepped forward slightly. "Yeah, you've used Black Hole to save people from all kinds of disasters before, haven't you?"

"That's true, but my Quirk could also very easily be used to kill. Some of you also have powers that can be dangerous. In our superhuman society, all Quirks are certified, and stringently regulated, so we often overlook how unsafe they can actually be.

Please don't forget that if you lose focus or make the wrong move, your powers can be deadly. Even if you're trying to do something virtuous like rescue someone. Thanks to Aizawa's fitness tests, you have a solid idea of your Quirk's potential. And because of All Might's combat training, you likely experienced how dangerous your powers can be when used against other people.

"Carry those lesson over to this class. Today, you're going to learn how to use your Quirks to save people's lives. You won't be using your powers to attack enemies or each other, only to help. After all, that's what being a hero is all about. Ensuring the safety of others." She bowed quickly. "That's all I have to say. Thank you so much for listening."

At that moment, the lights started flickering. The fountain down in the middle of the area below us started cutting out and a black portal of some sort appeared in front of it. It suddenly exploded outwards, what looked like yellow eyes appearing above it. Mr. Aizawa turned around, the expression on his face one I hadn't seen before.

"Stay together and don't move!" he commanded. "Thirteen. Protect the students!" A man with blue hair and dozens of disembodied hands clasped onto him, including one covering his face, stepped out of the portal. Hundreds of other people, all with different kinds of Quirks it looked like, stepped out with him.

Izuku went to take a step forward, but Mr. Aizawa immediately yelled out another order to stay back, stopping the boy in his tracks. He reached under his scarf and pulled out his goggles, positioning them over his eyes.

"This isn't training. This is real. Those are villains." Panic started to rise in my chest, my gut immediately telling me to run, to get away. I felt a hand grab my arm, and I immediately recognized it as Izuku's. I put my hand over his own and gave a gentle squeeze, trying to let him know we'll be alright.

"The only real heroes I see are Thirteen and Eraser Head." The black portal shrunk and in its place stood a man made of black fog. It didn't look like he have any body at all. "Perplexing. According to the schedule we retrieved from UA, All Might should be here as well."

Mr. Aizawa took a step forward. "So you scumbags used the press as a cover and sneaked onto campus."

"Where is he?" The man with the hands spoke for the first time. "I went through the trouble of bringing so many friends who're eager to meet him. They want All Might. The great Symbol of Peace. I can't believe he's not here.

"Maybe if I kill a few kids, he'll come out to play." Mr. Aizawa immediately activated his scarf, the capture weapon floating around him and ready for action. My heart dropped and my panic rose further. They were going to kill us just to bring All Might out. I realized that this is what the pro heros faced to keep us safe. We looked at them, and pure evil looked back.

Eijiro spoke up behind me. "What? Real villains? No way. How could so many of 'em get into a UA facility this secure?"

"Yeah, Thirteen. Why aren't the alarms going off?" I hadn't noticed her appear beside me. I guess I was busy trying not to lose it.

"Good question. I'm not sure." Mr. Aizawa stepped towards us.

"Thirteen, get them outta here. And alert the main campus. If they've got the ability to block our sensors, then they might be jamming out regular communications, too."

I heard Izuku speak up and question our homeroom teacher. "What're you gonna do? You can't fight them on your own! There's too many of 'em. Even if you can nullify their Quirks, your fighting style is not suited for this. Your power works best in stealth and one-on-one fights. That's not gonna help with a group."

"You can't be a pro if you only have one trick. I'll leave it to you, Thirteen." He jumped down the stairs and immediately took out a group of villains who tried to gun him down. I stood in awe, having never thought I'd be able to see Mr. Aizawa in action. He wrapped his scarf around a villain with four arms, who was then swiftly defeated with a punch.

"Whoa. He's holding them off. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated him." I looked around and realized the class had started running back to the entrance. I quickly tapped Izuku on the shoulder, turning to ran after our class.

"This isn't the time to analyze, Izuku. We have to go!" He looked at me and nodded, quickly turning myself and following my lead. Before we could get very far though, another portal opened in the floor in front of our class and the fog man appeared through it.

"There is no escape for you. It's a pleasure to meet you. We are the League of Villains. I know it's impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves into this haven of justice to say hello. And besides, isn't this a fitting place for All Might, the Symbol of Peace, to take his last breath?"

"I believe he was supposed to be here today, and yet I see no sign of him. There must've been some sort of change in plans we could not have foreseen. Ah, well, in the end, I suppose it doesn't matter. I still have a role to play."

Thirteen raised her hand and prepared to use Black Hole. Before she could, however, Bakugo and Eijiro launched themselves at the villain. A large explosion rocked the area due to Bakugo's attack, but there was so much dust in the air, I couldn't see anything.

"Did ya think we were just gonna stand around and let you tear this place to shreds?" the red-haired boy asked defiantly.

"You live up to your school's reputation. But you should be more careful, children. Otherwise, someone might get hurt." The attack had had no effect on the villain, my heart dropping as realization hit me.

"I'll scatter you across this facility to meet my comrades, and your deaths!" We were suddenly surrounded by a black cloud and I quickly started panicking as I felt my feet leaving the ground.

~~~~~Izuku's POV~~~~~

I emerged out of the inky blackness of a portal. I quickly realized that the ground wasn't beneath me and I looked down, freaking out slightly. I was a good 20 feet above the surface of the water and immediately started falling out of the sky towards it.

I quickly braced myself for the impact, and felt the air be driven from my lungs on impact. I got my bearings and started swimming for the surface. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and stopped, turning to see a villain quickly making his way toward me. He looked like some kind of fish, which would explain how he's so fast.

"First catch of the day. Nothing personal, kid, but you gotta die!" He opened his mouth, revealing hundreds of teeth. There wasn't much I could do against him. I closed my eyes and waited for it be over.

I heard him cry out in pain and opened my eyes. Asui had appeared and delivered a kick that sent the villain spiraling away. She quickly wrapped her tongue around me and swam to the surface, dropping me on deck of the ship that I had seen when we first got here. I sat up and checked myself, before Asui climbed aboard.

"You saved my life, Asui."

"I told you to call me "Tsu.""

I realized my mistake and tried to quickly correct myself. "Right! Tsu. Tsu. Tsu. I got it. Anyway, thanks!" My mind turned to our classmates' safety. "Did you see anyone else get warped here?"

Tsu shook her head. "Besides the villains in the water, I didn't see anyone else."

"You didn't look too hard, then." Wait, I knew that voice. We turned our heads towards the rear of the ship and saw Hannah walking down the stairs the led up to where the captain would pilot the boat. She was walking gingerly, and I could see that she was bleeding from a cut on her left arm.

"Hannah! Are you okay?" We quickly made our way to her side.

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine. I got dropped above the ship and crash landed through the ceiling. I was able to activate my Quirk in time, which helped absorb most of the landing." She grimaced as she took a step towards us, her right knee clearly giving her some trouble.

I heard Asui sigh behind me. "This is turning out to be a terrible day of class."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yeah, I keep thinking about what that villain said. They knew our whole schedule and who would be here. They must've gotten into school files while we were all stuck in the cafeteria. The teachers were busy trying to get the media off school grounds. That means they've been waiting for the perfect time to attack."

"Do you really think these guys can kill All Might?" Hannah looked past us, towards the central area. "Mr. Aizawa seems to be holding them off pretty easily by himself."

"Think about it, though," Asui replied. "If the villains spent so much time planning this attack, then they probably figured out a way to kill him. And didn't you hear what that smoke guy said? Maybe we should worry more about not getting tortured to death. Otherwise, we might not survive long enough to see All Might again."

"Asui's right. If they can beat him, then we have to stop whatever it is these bad guys are planning. We have to work together and keep All Might safe. No one at UA knows what's happening. This is up to us. Let's be heroes."

"Uhh, guys?" Hannah called. She was standing by the side of the boat and looked back at us with worry on her face. "Bad guys." Asui and I rushed over to her and took a look. There were villains coming in from all sides, forming a circle around the boat.

Asui put her finger against her mouth. "Alright, we need a plan." Before either of us could respond, a tentacle from one of the villains wrapped around her hand and pulled her overboard.

"Asui!" Hannah and I made a grab for her legs as she went over, but neither of us could get a hold of her. We both watched as she entered the water and immediately started fighting back. I wasn't all that worried about her, she's dangerous in the water. But the amount of villains she was up against was what worried me.

I heard a noise behind us and turned around, along with Hannah. Another group of villains had boarded on the other side of the ship and were slowly approaching us. We looked at each other and nodded, preparing for battle. I could hear her gauntlets activate and could see electricity flickering around her arms and legs.

One of the villains charged her and paid for it, getting swept off his feet and kicked back into his friends. Another ran at me and threw a punch, which I managed to catch. I dropped to one knee and caught him in the gut, causing him to collapse.

I heard her cry out and turned to look at her. She staggered back and was holding her jaw. I guessed another villain had gotten a hit in on her. The look on her face was quite frankly scary. I watched the electricity around her arms grow more vibrant and she charged at him, catching him in the cheek and knocking him over the side of the boat into the water.

She turned to look at me and her eyes widened. "Deku, all fours!" I immediately dropped to my hands and knees, just barely missing being clocked by a villain who had snuck up on me. Hannah ran up to me and hopped off my back, throwing a punch as she did. I heard a pained grunt and the sound of a body falling to the ground.

I stood up and made my way over to Hannah, being mindful that there may be more. Once I was sure we'd gotten them all, I turned to her and froze. She had her hands on her knees, and every inch of her skin was flushed. She was panting heavily and she was visibly shaking.

"Hannah, are you alright?!" She nodded, and I put my hand on her back.

"Yeah, just... just gimme a second." She stood up, continuing to try and catch her breath. I watched as her skin became less red, and she stopped shaking. "I... I kinda let my emotions... get out of control... used more than I wanted to..." I realized what she was trying to say and helped her support herself. This is what happens when she uses her Quirk too much. If she's not in the right state of mind... I shuddered, not wanting to imagine what would happen. Suddenly, a thought rushed into my head.

"Wait, where Asui?" I looked around, desperately hoping to see the frog girl.

"I... I haven't seen her since she went over." My heart sunk, the image of Asui down below us, defeated by the villains briefly flashing through my head.

"If that's the case, you guys didn't look hard enough." We both turned to see Asui climbing back aboard. She gave us a smile and started making her way to us.

"Tsu, you're okay!" Hannah happily cried, immediately wrapping Asui in a hug that she quickly returned.

"Yeah, I was able to make relatively quick work of them in the water. I guess they didn't know I was part-frog." I felt relief wash over me as Asui brought me in for a quick hug, as well. "I would love to catch up, but we still need to find our classmates, and get out of here."

"Asui's right. Not all of our classmates may be having as much luck. Come on, let's get back to shore." I looked at Hannah quickly and gave her a smile. Receiving one back, I hopped the railing, quickly being followed by the two girls. As I dropped, I heard Asui call out to me.

"Midoriya, I told you to call me "Tsu"."


	14. Please, You Can't Do This

After we fought off the villains, we jumped from the ship and swam to shore. The fight had made the pain in my knee worse. I could feel it throbbing as I reached the shore, Izuku helping me up out of the water. I gritted my teeth when I put my full weight on it, pain searing through my entire leg.

Tsu took a look at me, her face unreadable as always. "Hannah, are you sure that you're okay? Your leg doesn't seem to be 100%." I nodded to her, hobbling away from the water and sitting down in the grass.

"I'll be fine, Tsu. Besides, it's not like we can just walk out, not with that fog guy around."

She tipped her finger against her mouth. "Yeah, that's true." Izuku walked over and sat next to me.

"Do you think you can still fight?" he asked. His face was confident, but his voice was full of worry.

"I should be able to. I think it's more a bone bruise than anything serious." I looked over at him and gave him a smile to try and reassure him. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if I could throw a kick. The adrenaline from the fight was wearing off and I was becoming aware of every bruise and scrape across my body.

"Hey, guys. It's Mr. Aizawa." We looked over towards where our homeroom teacher was fighting. He was facing off against the hand guy, who I guessed was leading the villains who had shown up. We watched as he fended off a few villains who had gotten back up, but he wasn't used his right arm.

"Why isn't he using his arm?" Izuku asked, wondering the same thing as Tsu and I. As he swung back around to face hand guy, I caught sight of his elbow. I gasped and had to look away. Izuku saw me and was quickly to my side. "Hannah, what's wrong?"

"H-His elbow. It's his elbow." Mr. Aizawa's elbow was destroyed. The skin was cracked and chipped away, and the muscle underneath was clearly visible. His arm hung limply to his side, useless. Izuku and Tsu soon saw what I did, a look of disgust coming over Izuku's face.

Suddenly, a large, black monster appeared next to Mr. Aizawa. It's brain was exposed, and it's eyes were embedded in it. It had a mouth shaped like a bird's beak, but it was filled with razor sharp teeth. It raised it's hand, and took a swipe at Mr. Aizawa, knocking off his goggles and sending blood flying.

I stuffed my face into Izuku's chest, not wanting to watch anymore. I felt Izuku lay his hand on the back of my head, trying to comfort me. He was shaking, he was just as scared as I was.

"Hey, look. It's the fog guy," Tsu said. I peeked out from Izuku's chest and saw that he had appeared next to the hand guy. I couldn't hear what they were saying from where we were, but it looked like it wasn't good news for them.

The hand guy started scratching at his neck and spoke up. "There's no way we can win if dozens of pros show up to stop us. It's game over. Back to the title screen. And I was looking forward to finishing this today. Damn it. Let's go home."

My eyes widened and I looked towards the villains. "D-Did I hear that correctly?" Tsu nodded her head and looked at Izuku and I.

"That's what it sounded like to me. But I have a real bad feeling about this, guys." Izuku nodded.

"It's seems weird that they'd retreat at this point, even if help is on the way."

As Izuku was speaking, the hand guy stopped and looked up to the sky. "Oh, before we leave, let's make sure the Symbol of Peace is broken. Let's wreck his pride." He looked back at us, and I realized that he knew we were here the entire time.

Suddenly, he was on us in an instant. Neither Izuku nor I could react fast enough to stop him, and he extended his hand reaching for Tsu's face. I remembered what Mr. Aizawa's elbow looked like, but he was moving too quickly for me to do anything. _I'm sorry, Tsuyu._

His hand closed around her face, all five of his fingers making contact, and I prepared myself to see Tsu start dissolving. However, nothing happened.

The man grunted. "You really are so cool..." His Quirk wasn't working! I looked over towards Mr. Aizawa. His eyes red and bloodshot, he had managed to stop the attack, and save Tsuyu in the process. He was being pinned to the ground by the monster, who promptly slammed his face into the ground.

Izuku suddenly shot up and wound his arm back. As he launched himself at the hand guy, his arm started glowing. "You! Let her go! Now!" I realized that he was using his Quirk and braced myself. His punch landed, sending a rush of wind outwards.

Waves formed on the water, and trees bent over backwards. I felt myself start helplessly sliding back, stopping as the wind started dying down. I looked back towards Izuku, seeing that I had been blown farther away than I initially thought. As the dust cleared, however, my heart dropped.

The giant monster that had been pinning Mr. Aizawa to the ground had blocked the attack. It was much faster than any of us had thought. Not only that, but it had completely absorbed Izuku's attack. It had had no effect.

"You're pretty powerful. This "smash" of yours... Are you one of All Might's disciples? Doesn't matter. I'm done with you now." As the hand guy spoke, the monster raised its arms up above its head, preparing to smash Izuku into the ground. Before I could even think, I started charging my legs.

~~~~~Izuku's POV~~~~~

This was it. I was done for. My attack had had no effect on this monster. And now, it was counter-attacking. My legs, they wouldn't move. I couldn't dodge this. I closed my eyes, and waited.

"NOOO!"

I felt someone push me out of the way and the world moved as if in slow motion. Looking behind me, I saw Hannah, tears in her eyes and blue electricity sparking from her entire body. Her gauntlets activated, the girl turning to face the monster and bringing her arms up above her head in an X.

As I fell into the shallow water, the monsters arched its fists down and smashed down into Hannah's arms. She had managed to block the attack, but took the full impact. She let out a cry of pain and fell to one knee.

She limply hung her left arm to her side, and I could see the damage that had been done. Her gauntlet had been smashed, the arm guard completely destroyed. Blood started dripping from underneath and down her fingers.

As the monster wound back, preparing to slap her away as if she was an annoying fly, she looked back at me with an expression that said one thing.

"I'm sorry, Izuku."

The monster's fist slammed into her, sending her flying over my head. I watched helplessly as she skipped over the water and smashed through the hull of the ship we fought on, causing the boat to lurch violently.

"Hannah!" I heard my voice ring out through the building. I could feel tears of anguish start welling up in my eyes, and I turned to the villains.

As I turned, the monster grabbed my arm and swung at me. Asui knocked away the hand on her face and shot out her tongue, to try and get me away from him. The hand guy recovered quickly and reached again for Tsu's face.

Suddenly, there was loud crashing noise. Everything stopped, and I saw a cloud of dust rise over where the entrance was. Silence prevailed before a voice set my heart beating faster.

"Have no fear, students." I felt relief flood my senses. He appeared at the top of the stairs. "I am here!" All Might was here. And he wasn't smiling.

"I couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone wrong here when Aizawa and Thirteen didn't answer my calls. So I hurried over, running into Young Iida along the way. He told me of the villainy at work here."

He suddenly disappeared from where he was standing. A few villains who had started getting up where promptly laid back down. All Might appeared across from us, Mr. Aizawa in his arms. He turned to face us, and before I knew it, Tsu and I were in his arms, as well. Once we were a safe distance away, he put us down.

"Everybody, back to the entrance. And take Aizawa with you. He doesn't have much time." He stood up and faced the villains. We bent down and picked up Mr. Aizawa. I quickly turned to All Might.

"All Might." He turned his head towards me. "It's Hannah. She got hurt by that brain guy protecting me." I looked off over towards the ship, sitting noticeably lower in the water, and All Might immediately understood.

"Once you get Aizawa to the entrance, you can go and help Young Sato. I have everything under control here." He turned, flashing me a smile and a peace sign. I nodded, and we started making our way towards the entrance.

~~~~~Hannah's POV~~~~~

I slowly opened my eyes, my vision fuzzy. A wave of pain coursed through my body, causing me to cry out quietly and close them again. My head was throbbing, along with my left arm and knee. I reached up with my right arm and felt my forehead, feeling a warm liquid running down the side of my face.

I dropped my arm and tried to sit up, a fresh wave of pain running through me. I gasped and settled for leaning against the wall. I looked around and despite my vision, I could tell I was inside something. There was a hole in the other wall, and there was water up to my waist.

"It must be the ship from earlier." I chuckled a bit, and grimaced due to the pain. "How ironic." I looked out the hole in the wall, and it suddenly became clear. There was a hole in the side of a boat, and there's water flooding in.

As I thought this, the boat lurched to the side, throwing me against the opposite wall. I cried out in pain and fell to the floor. I laid there for a second, whimpering. I wondered if I should even try to get up. I could feel the water rising quickly. It would be easier to lay here and let it overtake me.

"Hannah!" I opened my eyes slowly. My brain must be playing tricks on me. I could've sworn I heard someone call my name. I closed my eyes again, suddenly feeling tired.

"Hannah, where are you?" My eyes snapped open. I definitely heard that. Someone was here to help. I felt relief wash over me, very slightly dulling the immense pain the was racking my body at that moment.

"I-I'm he-." I tried to yell, but another wave of pain washed over me, cutting me off. I was in almost constant pain, and help was so close. I steeled myself and took as deep a breath as I could. "I'm here!"

"Did you hear that, Midoriya?"

"Yeah, it came from in here, I think." Relief and happiness washed over me. Izuku and Tsu were coming. They would save me. I was going to get out of this.

Suddenly, the boat dropped. Water filled the space I was occupying and forced me up against the ceiling. I realized I didn't have much time and quickly took a deep breath. Pain shot through my chest, but I couldn't let go of this breath. Not anymore.

I went under and tried to get my bearings. I quickly started looking for the hole in the wall and tried to swim over to it, nearly letting go of the breath I had taken. The pain in my arm and leg made me realize that it wouldn't be that easy. My arm was nearly useless and I couldn't feel my leg anymore.

My lungs were starting to scream for oxygen and I was quickly running out of time. I tried to think, find something to use to help me out of the hole. Every move I made shorten my time left, and before I knew it, that time was up.

"I'm so sorry, Izuku. I can't hold it anymore."

~~~~~Izuku's POV~~~~~

Asui and I watched as the boat went under, bubbles of air escaping from the hole in the side. Panic overtook me, knowing that Hannah was in there, and she didn't have much time. We dove under and swam after the quickly sinking vessel.

I reached the hole and took a look inside. My eyes immediately rested upon an unconscious Hannah. I swam in and grabbed her hand, pulling her closer to me. I wrapped my arms underneath her and around her chest, and Asui helped me drag her to the surface.

Once we reached the shore, Asui helped me carefully haul Hannah onto the grass. I looked over her and covered my mouth. She was hurt, badly. Blood matted her hair and her arm and leg were starting to swell and turn purple. I pressed my ear to her chest, my eyes widening in worry.

"Asui, I need you go and get help from the others. We need to get her out of here. Now." She nodded and quickly hopped off towards the stairs. I looked back towards Hannah. She had a pulse, but it was weak., and she wasn't breathing.

I didn't waste any time and placed my hands in the center of her chest. I started pushing down, trying to keep her blood circulating, while counting to 30. Once I hit 30, I gently tilted her head back and opened her mouth. I pinched her nose, and leaned forward, placing my mouth over hers.

I breathed in and checked to see if her chest rose. It did. I gave her a second breath. It did again. I got up and started chest compressions again. I took a look at her face. I wasn't get a response.

With every push, every breath, I could feel myself getting more desperate. Tears started falling down my face as I tried to keep up the rhythm

"Hannah, please." I gave her another breath. "Don't do this!" I pressed my forehead against hers and fought back more tears. "You can't."

This girl, who had been so nice to me since before even the first day, who was just as interested in heroes and Quirks as I was, who was arguably the most beautiful girl I've met, and who I had come to love, she can't die here. I won't let her.

I gave her another breath and started more chest compressions, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I got a response. She suddenly gave a great inhale and rolled to her side, coughing up water. I felt the tears coming, and I didn't care to stop them.

"Hannah." I helped her sit up and immediately enveloped her in a gentle hug. I didn't want to hurt her any more than she already was.

"Izuku..." Her voice was weak, but she had enough strength to wrap her good arm around me.

"Don't you ever do something like that again." I gave her relieved smile and held her close as Shoji, Asui and Uraraka made their way over to us.

~~~~~Hannah's POV~~~~~

I don't remember much of what happened after that. Ochako and Tsu helped carry me back to the entrance, while Izuku went off to help All Might. Apparently, he was in a lot of trouble, but from what I heard from Mina, they did manage to fight off the villains.

I was still in quite a bit of pain, and Ochako told me that when they got me to Recovery Girl's office, I was "pretty unconscious." When I woke back up, I destroyed an apple that someone had left me and fell back to sleep. I slept until a voice disrupted my nice dreams.

"Rise and shine, sweetie." I lazily opened my eyes and looked away from the late afternoon sun that filtered in through the blinds. Recovery Girl was sitting next to me on a rolling chair and rolled back over to her desk. I gingerly sat up, my muscles stiff and still very sore.

"How long have I been out?" I spied a letter that was next to what remained for the apple. I hadn't noticed it before, but then again, I saw the apple first.

"A couple of hours. Classes are almost over for the day." She spun in her chair to face me. "I managed to finish your treatment while you were out. I wanted to make sure you didn't sleep the entire night away in here."

I took a look down at myself. My left arm was heavily bandaged, and in a sling. I reached up to my head and felt more bandages, my fingers running across a particularly tender spot along my hairline that must have been where the cut was. I tried to bend my right knee and was met with a wall of pain, causing me to gasp and grab the attention of the elderly nurse.

"Yeah, I recommend you don't put too much weight on that leg for a few days, at least. Gotta let your body do the rest. I'll let you decide whether you want a brace or a crutch."

"Brace, please." I grabbed the letter and looked at it for a second.

"A nice, young man came in hoping to visit, but when he saw you sleeping, he decided to leave you a letter and something to eat for when you woke up." I looked over at Recovery Girl. I already had an idea of who it could be from. Opening up the letter, I started reading to myself.

 _Hey, Hannah.  
I was going to come visit at break time,  
but you were still out cold then.  
I went down to the cafeteria and got  
you an apple. I imagine you'll be pretty  
hungry when you wake up._

I'll be around to check on you when classes end.  
I hope you're feeling better by then,  
because there's something I want to tell you  
-Izuku.

I felt my cheeks heat up as I finished reading the last line. I suddenly remembered what I had told myself earlier that day. Today was the day that I'll tell him how I feel. Did he feel the same way?

I lost myself in thought and before I knew it, the bell signaling the end of class sounded. The sound of other students walking through the halls soon filled the room, and I awaited the arrival of the green-haired ball of sweetness known as Izuku.

Just as I was beginning to think that he had forgotten, I felt a pair of eyes on me. I had been looking out the window, watching the clouds pass, and I turned my head to look at the door. My eyes made contact with Izuku's, which immediately caused us to blush and smile like idiots.

"H-Hi."

"Hey." He quietly walked over to the opposite of the bed, our eyes not leaving each other for a second. He brought up a chair and sat down. "I'm really glad you're okay."

"I have you to thank for that. I never got a chance to thank you until now." He smiled and blushed a little bit. I leaned forward gingerly and gave him a hug, which he happily returned.

"How did the rest of class go? Did I miss anything?" He shook his head.

"No, after... what happened, our classes were canceled for the rest of the day. It was basically an extended break period." I breathed a small sigh of relief. I looked at him and I could see his eyes scanning my body, taking in every bruise and bandage. I smiled at him to try and reassure him.

"I'll be fine. Nothing that won't heal." It was his turn to sigh in relief. "Plus, I got this cool knee brace to show off." I grabbed the brace Recovery Girl had given me and gently waved it in the air, earning a small chuckle from Izuku.

I put it down and looked back at him, and caught him staring at me again. Neither of us looked away, though. I felt my blush return and my heart started beating quicker. It was now or never. I had to tell him. Otherwise, I'll clam up and not say anything.

"Izuku, there's something that I-"

"Hannah, can I tell you-"

We looked at each other and both started blushed harder. He smiled and looked at me with his head angled down. "You first."

I rested my hands in my lap and looked down at them. I built up my courage and took a breath. "I-Izuku, there's been something I've wanted to tell you for awhile now, but I never had the courage to tell you.

"Ever since I first met you, I immediately just wanted to get to know you better and be close to you. W-We started hanging out, and I started catching myself just staring at you more and more.

"Whenever I'm near you, I just get flustered and hot and I-I just smile. I'm happiest when I'm with you, whether we're fighting bad guys or playing Street Fighter." I looked over at him.

"I-It wasn't long ago when I finally realized. I-I love you, Izuku Midoriya." It felt like my voice grew smaller as let my feelings flow from my mouth and I felt a weight settle on my chest waiting for his response.

He let out a small chuckle and looked at me with a smile, a furious blush painting his cheeks. "I couldn't have said it any better than that."

"W-What do you mean?"

"Back at the USJ, when Asui and I pulled you out of the water, I-I thought you were gone." I could see tears forming in the corners of his eyes, but he wiped them away and continued.

"And when you weren't responding to CPR, I realized to myself that I didn't think I could live without you." More tears came, but he didn't wipe them away this time. "I haven't met many people who I could just be myself around. I feel comfortable around you, I feel I can talk to you about anything.

"Just like what you said. Whether we're fighting bad guys or playing Street Fighter..." He looked at me and smiled. "... I'm happiest when I'm with you.

"I love you too, Hannah Sato."

I could feel the tears coming, but I couldn't stop them. They flowed down my cheeks as Izuku sat himself on the edge of my bed and brought me into a hug. I wrapped my free arm around him and cried into his shoulder. They weren't tears of sadness, though. They were tears of happiness and relief.

We separated and pressed our foreheads together, losing ourselves in each other's eyes. I could feel my mouth go dry, and breathing started getting slightly harder. I could see he was being effect in the same way, his blush dominating his face.

"Izuku..."

"Hannah..."

We closed the distance between us, meeting in the middle. Our lips pressed against each other, the softness of his surprising me slightly. I could feel myself melting, slowly losing the battle for dominance. I'd been wanting this for so long.

A small moan emanated from my throat, and I could feel Izuku's tongue probing my lips for entry. I opened up and his tongue quickly found mine, another battle ensuing. Izuku slowly pushed me down on the bed, laying off to the side to avoid my injured arm.

Our hands found each other and our fingers intertwined amongst themselves. We soon broke off the kiss and stared into each other's eyes again, both of us panting heavily from the lack of air and the stimulation .

"Hey, Han. You awake? My mom's here t-" Yumi walked in and looked up from her phone, freezing when she saw us. Izuku and I were equally as frozen, our faces lighting up like Christmas trees. Yumi held up hands and slowly backed out of the room. "I'll just... wait out here."

We looked at each other and started smiling and giggling like little children. He got up off the bed and smoothed out his blazer, the blush and excitement from our kiss still quite evident on our faces.

He offered me his hand, which I gladly took. He walked to the other side of the bed and helped me swing my legs over the edge. Grabbing my brace, I secured it around my knee and with Izuku's help, stood up off the bed.

"Ahh!" I gritted my teeth, pain shooting up my leg as I put my foot down. Izuku held my hand as we slowly made our way towards the door, every step agony as every bruise and ache on my body started making their presence known.

We eventually made our way through the door, Yumi waiting for us on the bench. She saw us come out and she stood up, quickly coming to my side. "I'm sorry for interrupting the moment, but my mom is here to pick up Han and I."

She gently took my arm from Izuku, the green-haired boy stepping back. Yumi started leading me down the hall until I spoke up.

"Yumi, stop for a sec?" She did so and looked at me.

"Did you forget something?" I blushed and looked behind us

"Kinda." She looked back and saw Izuku, watching us. She smiled and chuckled, letting me go.

"Be quick." I turned and hobbled my way back to Izuku, stopping in front of the boy. He looked at me questioningly.

"What is it, Hannah?" I leaned in and pressed my lips to his again, breaking away before he could respond. Our blushes returned, although not nearly as bad as before, and I started twisting my hair again.

"See you tomorrow?" He took a second to recompose himself and responded with a smile.

"Definitely." I gave him a quick hug and made my way back to Yumi, relief filling me as she helped support my weight. We walked down the hall and took the elevator. We were walking out the front door when she decided to say something.

"So, how was it?"

"Shut it." I felt my cheeks heat up and I briefly looked up to the sky.

 _It was amazing._


	15. A Day to Finally Relax

_*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*_

I quickly rolled over with a groan and tapped my phone, turning the alarm off. I opened my eyes and let them adjust to the early morning light that was filtering in through my window.

Throwing the covers off, I swung my legs over the side of my bed, a small twinge of pain running through my knee as I did so. I stretched my arms above my head, reveling in the feeling of my muscles waking up.

I heard my phone start vibrating on my nightstand. Putting in my password, I quickly looked through my chats. There were about 100+ messages in the group chat Mina and the girls had made. Opening it, I saw that most of them were from after class yesterday, but there was some recent messages sent just now.

 **AlienQueen** : Hey guys, they canceled school today because of what happened yesterday.  
 **ZeroGirl** : Oh no. I hope everything is okay.  
 **RainySeason** : I think they're just making sure everything is safe.  
 **RainySeason** : Speaking of, has anyone heard from Hannah?  
 **ZeroGirl** : Not since we brought her to Recovery Girl's office.  
 **ZeroGirl** : I really hope she's okay. She was in pretty bad shape.  
 **AlienQueen** : Me too. It was so scary watching her go flying like that.  
 **YouCantSeeMe** : I know right!

I smiled to myself and blushed lightly. Everyone was so worried about me. I guess it's only natural, I did get pimp slapped by a monster. I started tapping away at the keyboard on my screen, the conversation stopping when everyone saw me start typing.

 **HanWantsToBattle** : You know, you guys could've just asked how I doing.  
 **AlienQueen** : HANNAH!  
 **ZeroGirl** : Hannah! You're okay! ^-^  
 **RainySeason** : How're you feeling, Hannah? Better, I hope.  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Thank you, guys! I'm much better today, still kinda sore tho.  
 **TapToTheBeat** : I'd imagine, that was quite a hit you took.  
 **VaporeonQueen** : Can you guys be quiet, please? I'm trying to sleep.  
 **AlienQueen** : Why don't you try setting your phone to silent?  
 **VaporeonQueen** : Oh.  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : I'll see everyone in class tmr. Woke up to my normal alarm.  
 **ZeroGirl** : Okay! Hope you feel better!

I chuckled and shook my head. Of course Yumi would be sleeping still. Her mom probably let her sleep in once she found out that school was canceled. She was in for a rude awakening.

I closed the group chat and was about to put my phone down when I saw I had a message from Izuku. I felt my cheeks heat up and I thought back to yesterday. The soft feeling of his lips on mine, our tongues wrestling for control, the feeling of his body against mine when he laid me down...

Realizing that I started drooling slightly, I wiped my mouth and shook my head. It was way too early in the morning to be thinking like that. I ignored the blush on my cheeks and opened Izuku's message.

 **Deku-kun** : Hey, Hannah. How're you feeling?  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Much better, thank you :)  
 **Deku-kun** : Ah, good. I was really worried.  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Yeah, sorry for the late reply. I just woke up.  
 **Deku-kun** : Oh, that's fine. How did you sleep?  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : I'm sure I was out when Yumi and her mom got me home.  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : How I made it to my room is anyone's guess. xD  
 **Deku-kun** : Haha, she probably had to carry you.  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Yeah probably, haha.  
 **Deku-kun** : So...  
 **Deku-kun** : Since school is canceled today, I was wondering if you would like to hang out instead?

I could almost hear the nervousness in his text. I imagined him blushing as he hit 'Send'. The image caused a smile to appear on my face and I quickly tapped a response.

 **HanWantsToBattle** : Well, my knee isn't completely healed yet...  
 **Deku-kun** : Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I'm sorry.  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : No, it's okay!  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Maybe we could meet up here?  
 **Deku-kun** : Your mom wouldn't mind?  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Nah, she's at work.  
 **Deku-kun** : Oh, well, if it's alright, then I'll be right over. :)  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : I'll get Street Fighter going ;)  
 **Deku-kun** : Sounds good!

Within about 15 minutes, I heard a soft knock on the front door. I finished pulling on a fresh tshirt and sweats and made my way down the stairs, as quickly as my knee would allow me. I opened the door and saw Izuku on the other side looking off into the distance. Once he heard the door open, he turned back and smiled at me.

"Hey, Hannah."

"Izuku." I smiled and stepped aside, giving him room to enter. He stepped in and wrapped me up in a hug, which I quickly returned. Our lips came together in a brief kiss, my red cheeks matching Izuku's as we separated.

"Where's your sling?" He motioned to my arm, still wrapped in bandages.

"Oh, I took it off in the middle of the night. Recovery Girl only wanted me to wear it for the rest of the day anyway." I closed the door behind him and we made our way up the stairs, Izuku putting his hand on my back as I gingerly made my way up.

Turning left into my room, I saw him notice a few All Might posters on the wall near the door. I glanced over at a few All Might action figures I had over on my computer desk, wondering if he'd notice them, too.

I turned on my PS4 and hopped onto my bed, the springs squeaking slightly. I tossed Izuku a controller, giggling as he clumsily juggled it before getting ahold of it.

"Come on, I've been practicing." I patted the spot next to me. He smiled and chuckled as he sat down.

"Practicing, huh? In the 15 minutes it took for me to get here?"

"Uhh, no..." The faint blush on my cheeks gave me away. He'd called me out and he knew it. He playfully ruffled my hair, to my slight annoyment, and we quickly selected our characters.

Izuku quickly won the first two matches and I somehow managed to win the third. I'm fairly convinced he went easy on me so he didn't hurt my feelings or something.

The fourth match was clearly going in Izuku's favor early on, and my competitive side was getting desperate. An idea quickly formed in my head as my health got lower and without thinking I leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Despite the kisses we've already shared, his face immediately reddened and his button inputs almost stopped. I took the opportunity and managed to finish him off before he could regain his composure. I held a mischievous smirk on my face as Izuku started cooling down.

"H-Hannah! That's cheating!" He looked over at me with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"I know, Izuku. I'm sorry." I sneakily gave him another kiss on the cheek, reigniting his blush and quickly readied up for the last match. The green-haired boy shook his head and readied up, beginning our last match.

I managed to get a few early hits in on him, probably because he was still a little flustered. Soon, I was able to get his health in the red. I got aggressive and started going for combos, trying secure me my first win over him.

As I went for the winning combo, I felt a pair of lips on my cheek. I was so concentrated on getting the combo right that I jumped and squeaked slightly, losing my grip on the controller. I lunged to grab it again, but before I knew it, Izuku stood victorious once again.

I could feel the heat coming from my cheeks and I sent a glare at Izuku. He was pretending not to notice, although I could see the blush on his cheeks and the smirk on his face.

"Izuku, that's cheating," I said, copying his words from earlier. He turned to me and started laughing. I wasn't that mad at him and I soon joined him in laughter.

We started settling down and laid back on the bed, our hands finding each other. My blush grew slightly, the softness of his hands surprising me again. I gave his hand a small squeeze and I giggled inside as I felt him squeeze back.

"Izuku?"

"Yeah?"

"When do you want to let everyone know about us?"

"What do you mean?" I felt the sheets shift as he turned his head to look at me.

"Well, Yumi is the only one that knows. And if Mina doesn't know, then she's probably not far behind." The sheets shifted again as he turned his head to stare at the ceiling. "And knowing her, once she finds out, it's only a matter of time before the entire class knows."

"That's a good point. I'd much rather let them know on our terms."

"So would I." I turned my head to look at him, our eyes meeting. He quickly closed the distance, slowly pressing his lips to mine. A soft moan left my throat and I closed my eyes, losing myself in our kiss.

Our blushes multiplied as a result, and I quickly allowed his tongue to invade my mouth and wrap around mine. We wrestled with each other like that for what felt like forever until we had to break for air, staring at each other. Out of breath, blushing like crazy, my hair somehow already messed up.

We came back together, and I ran my hand through his hair. I felt him place his hand on the small of my back and he gently pulled me closer to him, our legs entangling themselves. He trailed his finger up along my spine through my shirt, causing me to shiver at his touch.

 _Everything surrounding me, leaving me with nothing left to say. Imagine it, grasping it. It feels so far away_

My ringtone suddenly started playing and my phone vibrated against my nightstand. We hesitantly broke apart and I let my head fall to the bed in annoyance. Sitting up, I grabbed my phone and answered it, trying not to sound like I was just making out with someone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, honey." My eyes widened and I sat up straight.

"Hi, Mom." I looked at Izuku with a slightly terrified expression. "What's up?"

"I just thought I'd call ahead and let you know that I'll be home early today. A water main broke and they apparently can't have us in without running water."

"Oh. When will you be home?"

"In about ten minutes." I took my phone away from my ear and checked the time. It was already 1:20, so Izuku and I had until about 1:30.

"Oh okay. Also, I-I should let you know that Izuku is coming over today to hang out. I hope that's okay."

"Izuku? Wasn't he that nice boy who helped carry Yumi home?" I nodded despite her not being able to see me.

"Yeah, that's him."

"Yeah, that's perfectly fine." I smiled at Izuku, receiving one back before my mom spoke up in my ear. "Hannah, are you alright? It sounds like you're breathing a bit hard." My eyes widened again and I tried to quickly think of an excuse.

"O-Oh, yeah I'm fine. I-I was just downstairs when I heard my phone go off in my room and I rushed up to get it." I hoped her built-in lie detector hadn't gone off

"Alright. Take it easy today, I know you're not 100%. I'll see you when I get there. Love you, sweetie."

Okay, Mom. I love you, too. Bye." I ended the call and flopped down next to Izuku. The boy was still calming down from our interrupted make-out session and he looked at me with a slightly confused look on his face.

"Who was that?" I looked at him questioningly before I realized that I had answered and talked in English. I laughed and propped myself up on my elbows.

"It was my Mom. She's gonna be home in a few minutes." I saw the curious look on his face change to a slightly panicked one before I gave him a quick kiss. "Don't worry, I told her that you'd be coming over, so she's expecting you."

"Oh, okay." He relaxed and sat up, his legs hanging off the side of my bed. I crawled over and sat next to him, Izuku wrapping his arm around my waist. I rested my head on his shoulder and enjoyed the warmth radiating from his body.

"So, what do you wanna do now?" he asked me. I definitely knew what I wanted, but with my mom expected any minute now, that wouldn't work. We had gotten our fill of Street Fighter, even though Izuku cheated to win. An idea then popped into my head.

"We could go train outside."

"We could. Wait, what about your knee?" I could hear the concern in his voice and I looked up at him. I gave him a smile and grabbed his hand, squeezing gently.

"I'll be fine. I'm tougher than I look." I shot him a wink, which managed to turn his cheeks red again. "Besides I took a couple aspirin before you got here." I stood up and quickly stretched for a couple seconds.

"Oh, okay." He got up and took my hand. "Well, let's go." We smiled at each other and shared another kiss before heading out the door and down the stairs.

As Izuku and I made our way downstairs, we were meet by my Mom coming in the front door. We realized we were still holding hands and we quickly let go, my face feeling noticeably warmer.

"Hey, you two! Are you enjoying your day off?"

Izuku and I looked at each other and smiled. I looked back at Mom and nodded softly. "Yeah, it's been alright. We were about to go out and train a little."

"Oh, that's okay. Don't push yourselves too hard." She set her purse down. "Especially you Hannah, you need to rest that knee."

"I know, Mom. Trust me, I won't go too hard on him." I turned to Izuku and gave him a smirk. He gave a chuckle and looked back at me.

"Your mom is right, Hannah. You should probably take it easy."

"Oh, you're no fun! I was just kidding." We giggled like children for a second before we walked out the sliding door into the backyard. If we had looked behind us, we would've seen my mom laughing to herself and shaking her head.

As we entered the backyard, a nice breeze greeted us. We walked over to an open spot free from the clutter of the yard furniture and I turned to Izuku, crossing my arms.

"Alright, throw a punch at me." He looked at me questioningly, like I had just asked him to kick a cat.

"E-Excuse me?"

"Throw a punch at me."

"O-Okay." He set his feet and raised his fists. After a few seconds, he rushed at me and threw a right hook. I calmly sidestepped the attack, pushed Izuku's fist away and swept his legs out from underneath him, causing him to fall forward onto his face.

He rolled over and looked up at the sky. "Uhhh... what just happened?" I giggled and offered him my hand, which he quickly accepted. I helped him to his feet and went about explaining what I did, as he picked grass clippings out of his hair.

"Your punch was really well executed. Good posture, good form. You didn't really do anything wrong." He looked at me confusedly.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I was getting to that!" I walked up to him. "Raise your fist like you were going for that punch again."

"Okay." He did so and I started explaining what I did.

"What happened was that I used your momentum against you. As you went for the punch, I stepped out of your line of sight." I stepped to his side.

"Once I did that, I gently pushed your fist away to get you off-balance." I demonstrated by pushing his outstretched fist away from me, across his body.

"And you being off-balance made it easier for me to hook your leg and trip you up." I stepped away as he processed the information. He nodded his head and turned to me with an eager look on his face.

"Okay, I get it. Go again?" I nodded and charged at him, not wanting to give him time to think. He panicked slightly, but regrouped quickly. I threw the same right hook at him, and he took the bait. He sidestepped and pushed my attack away, unknowingly playing into my hands.

I rotated with the force from his block and brought my elbow up and around. I wasn't aiming to hit him, but he still saw it coming and quickly ducked away from it. He stumbled back a few steps and looked at me. I lowered my arms and gave him a friendly smirk.

"Still wanna go?" He gave me a smile, and I could see his competitive side coming out.

"Of course."

Izuku and I sparred for the rest of the afternoon, taking breaks when one of us accidentally hit the other or when my knee gave out. At one point, my mom came out with glasses of water for us that we both eagerly downed.

The green-haired boy was eventually able to keep up with me, although it was clear I wasn't fighting at 100%. I didn't use any kicks and we both agreed that I would've wiped the floor with him if I could've.

We collapsed in a sweaty and out of breath heap against the tree in the yard, with nothing but our breathing and the soft rustling of the leaves in the breeze to break the silence. I looked over at Izuku and took in his condition.

His hair, damp with sweat but still somehow perfectly messy. His cheeks, red with exertion and his lips, parting to try and get enough air. I lowered my gaze to his chest, rising and falling quickly. His shirt clung to his skin, and I could vaguely see the muscles that hid underneath.

I saw him turn to look at me, catching me staring at him. Our cheeks reddened and I noticed his eyes look me over, seeming to linger on my chest and stomach before rising to meet mine again. He smiled and started leaning in, before I quickly closed the distance and brought my lips to his.

I had wanted to be the aggressor, but Izuku's tongue immediately attacked mine. My mind went blank and just like before I was at his mercy. Before we could get very far, however, we heard someone clear their throat, causing us both to jump and look towards the sliding door.

My mom stood leaning against the doorframe, with a look somewhere between wanting to laugh and being mildly annoyed.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Izuku's mother just called. She says that dinner's almost ready and it's time to start heading home." Izuku looked down at his watch and his eyes widened.

"O-Oh, wow. I guess we l-lost track of time." He got up and offered me his hand. He helped me to my feet and we followed my mom inside, our faces completely red. Izuku picked up his jacket that he had placed on the back of one of the dining room chairs and made his way out the front door, waving to my mom on his way out.

I followed him out and grabbed his hand, causing him to turn and face me. "Don't worry, I'll explain everything." He appeared to relax slightly at my words and pulled me into a hug which I eagerly returned.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked. I nodded my head and smiled at him.

"Definitely." He smiled and we leaned in for a brief kiss goodbye. We pulled apart and stared for a second before he turned and headed off in the direction his apartment. I watched him until he turned corner before going back inside.

My mom had started preparing our own dinner, and she looked up at me with a small smile on her face as I walked back through the kitchen.

"So, little miss Juliet?" I blushed and turned to her, suddenly feeling sheepish. "Would you like to go ahead and explain yourself?"


	16. Telling Our Friends About Us

I stood on the other side of the island with my hands behind my back and a huge blush across my cheeks, unable to bring my gaze up to meet my mom's. She had her hands on her hips and stood waiting for my answer.

"Well?"

"I-, We were-" I was running out of ideas and excuses. Izuku and I had been caught red-handed, and I was ready give up when my mom laughed and the menacing glare she was holding dropped from her face.

"You're just lucky I'm not mad."

"Wait, you're not mad?" Time felt like it stopped and I looked up at my mom, a really confused look plastered on my face.

"No, of course not. I always knew my daughter was going to grow up. I just thought I'd have a bit of fun at her expense." She laughed and brought me into a hug, releasing me before heading over to attend to our dinner.

"Oh, okay." I started walking away, hoping to get away from the conversation before she could start asking questions.

"So, how long how you two been together?" I stopped and flinched slightly.

"Oh, uhh. O-Only since yesterday." My voice came out sounding smaller than I wanted it to. Why was this so difficult? It's only my mom, and I know that she'll support me no matter what. It probably didn't help with the way she found out about us, though.

"Ah, not long at all, then. And you're in the same class?"

"Y-Yeah, we sit next to each other."

"Hmm. Well, I won't pry too much." She turned to me and gave me a reassuring smile. "Izuku seems like a very nice boy. Just make sure you two make good decisions, alright?"

Relief settled in my chest and I smiled back at her, nodding my head. "We will. Thanks, Mom." I walked up to her and gave her as big a hug as I could.

"No problem, sweetie. Dinner will be done soon, I'll let you know when." She gently patted my head and shooed me away so she could finish cooking.

I made my way up the stairs, my heart fluttering in excitement and happiness. I turned into my room and immediately grabbed my phone to tell Izuku the news.

 **HanWantsToBattle** : Hey Izuku  
 **Deku-kun** : Hey, Hannah  
 **Deku-kun** : Did your mom say anything?  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : She did :(  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : And she's okay with us being together :D  
 **Deku-kun** : Wait, really?!  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Yep haha  
 **Deku-kun** : Hannah! You had me really worried!  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Aww, I'm sorry :(  
 **Deku-kun** : I guess I can't be that mad at you 3  
 **HanWantsToBattle:** Yay haha ^-^ 3  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : So, how do you think your mom will take it?  
 **Deku-kun** : Oh yeah, I didn't think about that.

He didn't reply for a few minutes and I could almost see him with his hand on his chin, lost in thought.

 **Deku-kun** : I think I'll let her know tonight. She's usually pretty supportive.  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Sounds like a plan. I hope it goes well :)  
 **Deku-kun** : So do I 3  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : 3  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Well, I wish I could keep talking, but I need to take a shower  
 **Deku-kun** : Oh yeah that reminds me, I should probably take one too haha  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : And dinner is afterwards, so I may end up falling asleep :(  
 **Deku-kun** : Haha, that's alright, Hannah. I'll see you in class tomorrow?  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : You know it :)

I put my phone down and laid down on my bed, immediately regretting it as my shirt clung to my back. I got up and walked down the hall to the bathroom, pulling my shirt up over my head in the process. I caught a look at myself in the mirror and stopped to take a look.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the few bruises on my stomach that hadn't completely healed. I gently ran my fingers over them, wincing slightly as I did, but also letting out a small chuckle.

"It's all part of becoming a hero." I quickly finished undressing and got the water running, triple-checking the temperature to make sure I didn't burn myself like last time. Once I got the water to a comfortable temperature, I stepped in and felt every ache and sore spot disappear.

~~~~~Izuku's POV~~~~~

A yawn escaped my throat as I stood waiting for the train to UA to show up. My eyes were threatening to close every time I blinked and I'm pretty sure I had fallen asleep a few times and started falling over before I caught myself.

"This is what I get for staying up late, I guess."

After I took a shower last night, I told my mom about Hannah and I. It had taken me about 10 minutes to even build the courage to say something. When I did, she had started crying and I thought I had upset her in some way. But it turns out she was just really happy for me and she completely approved of our relationship.

I grabbed my phone and immediately texted Hannah. I managed to catch her before she fell asleep and I received about 4-5 hearts a few seconds after I had hit 'Send'. We got talking and before either of us knew it, it was already almost two in the morning.

My mom had to shake me awake and I rushed out the door with a piece of toast in my mouth. Hannah had been in the same boat, and she had texted me a few minutes ago to tell me that she would be late.

Another yawn left me and I started rubbing my eyes when I heard footsteps approaching and a voice greet me.

"Hey, Deku!"

I turned to face Uraraka, who was running down the platform towards me. Behind her, I could see Iida trying to keep up, while making his trademark robot-like hand motions.

"Uraraka! Do not run on the platform! You could get hurt!"

"Oh, calm down, Iida." She giggled and slowed as she approached me, letting the blue-haired boy catch up.

"Uraraka! Iida!" I gave both of them a wave and smiled.

Iida caught up and straightened himself out, giving me a small wave. "Midoriya. You seem a little worse for wear."

"Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night." I rubbed the back of my head and gave a nervous laugh.

"Ah. Get to bed early tonight. You don't want it to start affecting your studies."

"Got it. Thanks, Iida."

Uraraka looked around and scratched her head. "Deku, have you seen Hannah? She should be here by now."

I felt my cheeks heat up slightly and I quietly started to panic a little. "Oh, uhh, s-she texted me a little bit ago and said that she would be running a little late." Iida looked down at his watch, then up over my shoulder.

"She'd better hurry. According to the time, our train should be here any minute."

Uraraka crossed her arms, a slight hint of worry on her face. "I hope she doesn't miss it." I nodded my head and looked down towards the end of the platform that went off towards the direction of Hannah's house, hoping to see her turn the corner any second.

My phone vibrated again, and I looked down to see that Hannah had sent another text.

 **HanWantsToBattle** : Almost there!

I heard the unmistakable squeal of brakes being applied and I looked up to see our train pulling into the station. I was about to send a reply to Hannah, but I figured she wouldn't be paying much attention to her phone.

As the train stopped and the doors opened, I shot one last glance towards the end of the platform. I quickly caught sight of a girl running through the crowd, her face completely flushed. She had her head down, but I already knew who it was.

"Hannah!" I raised my hand so she could see where I was. She looked up and started making her way over as quickly as she could. Holding out my hand for her to grab, I pulled her in just as the doors closed and the train started moving forward.

As the station rolled by outside the windows, Hannah and I took our seats across from Uraraka and Iida. Hannah leaned her head back against the window and tried to catch her breath.

"Hannah! You made it!" Uraraka got up and gave Hannah a quick hug, before sitting back down next to Iida.

"Yeah, barely. I... I didn't even know where you guys were. If it wasn't for... Izuku, I probably would've just ran on by." She looked over at me and gently brushed her fingers across mine. I could immediately feel my cheeks heat up.

"U-Uh, yeah. N-No problem, Hannah." I gave her a smile and brushed my fingers back over hers. Her cheeks visibly reddened in response, causing a small smirk to appear on my face.

As our train made its way up towards the UA campus, the four of us started making light conversation, mostly about the day off yesterday. It turns out that Uraraka spent the entire day sleeping and Iida spent the entire day studying.

After Iida gently chastised Uraraka about her sleeping in, he motioned towards Hannah and I. "What did you two do yesterday?"

"Izuku came over and trained with me." I felt my cheeks heat up as Uraraka started bouncing in her seat. Iida put his hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.

"That's good. You should always be trying to better yourselves."

"So, Deku." Uraraka looked at me and leaned forward. "What's the inside of Hannah's house like?" I felt my entire face warm up when I realized what she had asked me.

"O-Oh, umm, it's r-really n-nice." I was even sure how to respond, she caught me completely off guard. Thankfully, I felt a hand on mine and I looked over at Hannah, who gave me a smile.

"You could've just asked me, Ochako. It's a lot like your house, but since my family is from America, there's a lot of American pop culture references. Mostly in the form of posters and movies."

"Ohhh, okay. I've been wondering about it ever since the first day. So, who won?"

I gently shook my head. "It was only some light sparring. Hannah's knee still isn't one hundred percent." The two across from us took a look down at her knee, her black brace contrasting against the skin of her leg.

Uraraka held her hands to her chest. "I'm really glad you're okay, Hannah. That was really scary, what happened." Iida nodded in agreement.

"I agree. You should consider yourself lucky that you weren't hurt worse." I felt Hannah put an arm around my shoulders.

"Well, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for this guy. He's always been there for me." My cheeks heated up again and I couldn't help but smile at her words.

"That actually reminds me. It's only been a week, but you two already seem pretty close." Hannah and I looked at each other.

"U-Um, actually... There's something that Izuku and I wanted tell you guys." She turned to looked back at Iida and Uraraka., who looked at us with slight confusion. I could see a small blush on her cheeks, and I had a feeling I knew what she was about to say.

"Izuku and I... we have gotten really close. We enjoy being around each other. We enjoy many of the same things; games, heroes and quirks, training.

And when Izuku came to visit me in Recovery Girls' office, he..." She looked down at her lap, the blush on her cheeks growing. I built up my courage and laid my hand over hers.

"... I-I confessed to her." Uraraka gasped and covered her mouth. She started bounced in her seat again.

"Hannah, what did you say?!" The girl next to me looked up with a smile and a heavy blush. She grabbed my hand and our fingers interlocked, causing my blush to start equaling hers.

"I love you, too."

Uraraka beamed at us and clapped her hands with glee. "I'm so happy for you two!" Iida smiled and readjected his glasses.

"As am I. Two of the hardest working students in the class should make for a pretty formidable team." Hannah and I looked at each other and smiled. Uraraka and Iida seemed really happy for us. I was glad that we'd gotten that over with.

Then I remembered that we still had to tell everyone else in class.

~~~~~Hannah's POV~~~~~

A few minutes after Izuku and I came out to Tenya and Ochako, our train reached the UA train station. It doesn't actually belong to UA, but it's so close to campus that everyone just calls it 'The UA Station'. If Mina is to be believed, anyway.

Izuku grabbed my hand as we made out way off the train. We smiled at each other and I quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing him to turn completely red. I covered my mouth, failing to suppress that giggles that resulted.

"So, who do you guys think will be teaching class?" Ochako bounced up past Izuku and I. The green-haired boy put his hand on his chin and thought for a second, the blush still evident on his cheeks.

"I'm not sure. Last time we saw Mr. Aizawa, we weren't even sure he was going to live."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I hope he's okay. Thirteen, too." Ochako and Izuku nodded in agreement. We turned the corner and walked through the UA gate, up the steps and through the front doors.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket as we walked in. Reaching in and fishing out my phone, I quickly put in my password and saw that Mina had texted me something. I tapped on her message and stopped. Izuku noticed me stop and turned towards me.

"What is it, Hannah?" I turned my phone around and showed him the screen.

 **AlienQueen** : I knew it!

I felt my phone vibrate again as I showed him. I turned it around, my eyes widening slightly. Izuku walked beside me and took a look, our faces immediately reddening.

 _ **AlienQueen shared an image -**_

It was a photo of Izuku and I as we walked in the front door, holding hands. We started looking around for her since the picture was taken from near the main entrance, so Mina had to be here somewhere. My eyes quickly fell on a pink girl on a bench who was trying desperately to hide her face.

I turned to Izuku. "Go on, I'll talk to her." I gently squeezed his hand and smiled at him.

"Okay, I'll see you in class." He gave me a smile back and went about catching up to Ochako and Tenya.

Making my way over to the bench where Mina was clearly sitting, I sat down and was immediately pounced on.

"You will tell me everything."

"I will not tell you everything."

"You promise you won't tell anyone? Izuku and I want to let everyone know on our time."

Mina excitedly nodded her head. "I promise!" She hopped up and down excitedly as we made our way towards our homeroom class. "I'm just so happy for you two! You guys make such a cute couple!"

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Thanks, Mina." I brought her in for a hug, which she all too happily returned, and we turned left into the classroom. Mina broke off from me to head for Yumi and Toru, probably to gossip.

My eyes immediately landed on a blushing Izuku, in the middle of a conversation with Tsu and Ejirio. The red-haired boy gave him a pat on the back, and went back to his seat. Tsu got Izuku's attention, and while I couldn't hear what she was saying, the boy gave a few nods before the frog girl walked away.

As I walked around the front of the room, Izuku noticed me and sent a smile in my direction. I promptly sent one back and was about make my way over to him before Bakugo stood up from his desk and blocked my path.

My shoulders slumped in annoyance and I pinched the bridge of my nose. "What do you want, Bakugo?"

"Tell me what's going on between you and Deku." The tone of his voice made it clear that he wasn't asking me to tell him.

"Maybe if you said please, I'd tell you."

"Like hell I'll say please!"

"Alright, have it your way." I pushed past him, intentionally bumping into him on my way past. I got to my desk and turned to see the spiky blonde following me.

"Come back here, we're not done!" I stood back and put my hand on my hip. Before I could say anything, though, Izuku got up from his desk and stood in between Bakugo and I, trying to defuse the situation.

"Calm down, Kacchan! Class is about to start!"

"Get out of my way, Deku!" I watched as Bakugo walked up to Izuku and pushed him out of the way, shoving the boy into our row of desks. I saw Izuku's knee smash into the seat, causing him to gasp in pain.

My eyes widened, and before I could even think about what I was doing, I walked up to Bakugo and shoved him to the ground. The commotion had attracted the attention of the rest of the class, who fell into a shocked silence as the boy landed was a thud.

He quickly got up off the floor and glared daggers at me. "You bitch! Push me again and I'll kill you!" I had bent down next Izuku to see if he was okay, and I quickly snapped back at Bakugo.

"I'd love to see you try." I felt Izuku grab my arm, causing me to look over at him. The look on his face was almost pleaded with me to stop. I took a breath and gently nodded to him, walking back to my seat and sitting down.

I put my my hand on his shoulder and looked down at my desk. "I'm sorry." I felt him put his hand on mine and he looked back at me with a smile.

"It's okay." I gave him a smile back and locked our fingers together, making him blush lightly.

The door slid open, and more shocked silence filled the room. Mr. Aizawa strolled into the room, heavily bandaged and with both arms in casts.

"Mr. Aizawa, what are you doing here?!" Yumi and Mina almost fell out of their seats upon seeing the Pro Hero walk in.

Tenya raised his hand. "Mr. Aizawa. I'm glad you're okay."

"My well being is irrelevant. What's more important is that your fight isn't over yet." He paused for dramatic effect, letting the classes own imagination get the better of them. I hated when he did this, I could never guess what he would say. "The UA Sports Festival is about to start."

Suddenly, it was my turn to almost fall out of my seat.


	17. Now We Are The Targets

The UA Sports Festival. A competition held every year by UA High, in which students from all grades and courses compete, with the opportunity to show off their abilities. I remember watching it every year on TV with my mom, in childlike awe of all the awesome Quirks and various events.

But I never thought that I would have the chance to be a part of it. The idea alone was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

Before everyone could get riled up, however, Kyoka raised her hand. "Wait a second. Is it really such a good idea to hold the sports festival so soon after the villains snuck inside?"

"Apparently, the administration thinks this is a good way to show that the threat has been handled and our school is safer than ever. Plus they're beefing up security compared to past years." Mr. Aizawa looked up at us.

"This event is a huge opportunity for all students at UA. It's not something we can cancel because of a few villains. Our sports festival is one of the most watched events in the entire world. In the past, everyone obsessed over the Olympic games. But then Quirks started appearing.

"Now, the Olympics have been drastically reduced in terms of scale and viewership. For anyone who cares about competition, there's only one tournament that matters. The UA Sports Festival."

Momo nodded her head behind me. "That's right. And top heroes everywhere will be watching. This is where you get scouted." My eyes widened as I realized that she was right. I had completely forgotten about that. After graduating, a lot of people go on join pro agencies as a sidekick. This was a huge opportunity to get noticed!

Mr. Aizawa continued. "It's true that joining a famous hero agency can garner you greater experience and popularity. That's why the festival matters. If you wanna go pro one day, then this event could open the path for you. One chance a year. Three chances in a lifetime. No aspiring hero can afford to miss this festival.

"That means you better not slack off on your training." The tone of his voice immediately lowered. And I could've sworn the temperature of the room lowered with it. It was almost as if he wasn't just telling us to not slack off. He was commanding us not to. "Class is dismissed."

As Mr. Aizawa walked out of the room, Izuku turned in his seat to face me. "Are you excited, Hannah?" I nodded, hooking some hair behind my ear.

"Definitely. I've been watching the Sports Festival since I was a kid. I didn't think I'd get to compete in it, though." I gave him a smile. "What about you?"

"Of course. This is gonna be nuts!" He looked over at the rest of the class, busy with their own conversations. "Everyone's so excited."

"Well, yeah. Of course we are!" We both looked over at Tenya, who made his way over to us. "We enrolled at this school with the sole aim to become heroes. So, naturally, we're all getting fired up."

I nodded. "That's true, I guess."

A hand slammed down onto my desk, causing Izuku and I to jump. We both looked up to see Ochako standing over us and were taken slightly aback at the intensity showing in her face.

"Guys, let's do our best in the sports festival!"

"Whoa, calm down, Uraraka. You're normally, like, the most laid back girl ever." Mina walked over and put her hand on Ochako's shoulder.

"Heh, sorry. I just get really competitive."

"Yeah, we know." Izuku and I replied at the same time. We both thought back to the night Ochako invited us over to her house. She wasn't a very gracious winner.

"Oh, that reminds me." Izuku looked at Ochako. "Uraraka, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." The brown-haired girl looked at him curiously.

"What's up, Deku?"

"Why did you decide to come to UA? What made you wanna be a pro hero?"

"Oh... Well... Because... For the money, I guess."

"Uh, for the money? You wanna be a hero so you can get rich?" Ochako started scratching the back of her head and looked away nervously.

"If we're cutting to the chase, then, yeah. I'm sorry if it sounds greedy! You guys have such admirable motivations. I hope you don't think less of me now."

Tenya quickly raised his hand. "Not at all! Your goal is to support your wellbeing, which is a perfectly admirable ambition to have."

Izuku nodded his head in agreement. "It's just kinda surprising."

"Well, you see... my family owns a construction company, but we haven't gotten any work lately, so we're flat broke."

I looked up quickly after putting two and two together. "Ah, okay. And you want to become a pro hero so you can use your Quirk to help float everything, right?"

Ochako turned to me. "Yeah! I've been telling Dad that since I was a kid! But he always told me to follow my own dream. That that's how I can make them happy." She looked up at us, a determined look on her face.

"I'm gonna become a pro. I'll sign with a good agency and make plenty of money. Then I'll be able to let my parents have an easy life!" Tenya and Izuku started clapped for her, causing the girl to start blushing, more than she usually is.

"That's so noble, Ochako." I wrapped my arm around her and brought her into a hug which was quickly returned.

"Thanks, guys!"

Suddenly, the sound of All Might's laughter rang through the room. The Symbol of Peace heroically poked his head through the door and pointed over at us.

"Young Midoriya is here!"

"Whoa, All Might! What are you doing here?" The boy got up from his desk and walked over to the hero.

"Lunch! Ya wanna eat with me?" He held up a small packed lunch, causing Ochako to cover her mouth in an attempt to keep herself from laughing.

"Oh, sure." He looked over his shoulder and and made his way back over to us.

"Hannah, I..." I pressed my finger to his lips, quieting him and causing him to blush heavily. I giggled and took my finger off his mouth.

"It's okay. If the world's greatest hero invited me to eat with him, I'd go too." He gave me a relieved smile and wrapped me in a hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck, returning the embrace.

He started breaking away, but I didn't let him go. I pressed my forehead to his and laid a kiss on his nose. The boy jumped slightly and his entire face went red, forcing another giggle from me.

"Lemme know how it goes?"

All he could do was smile and nod. I let him go, and he hesitantly made his way over to the waiting hero. I sat back down and started gathering my things together, ignoring the gazes of my friends around me.

I felt Mina slide up next to me. "That was so cute! You two are so the perfect couple." I started blushing slightly as I tried to ignore her and finish packing up my stuff.

"Ooo, what this?" Like a vulture, Mina snatched something out of my bag while I wasn't looking.

"Hey!" I grabbed it out of her hands and gently hit her on the head with it

"Hey! Watch the horns!"

"Serves you right for just snatching my notebook. If you wanted to see it, you could've just asked." She stuck her tongue at me, and ran her fingers through her hair. I put the notebook back in my bag and zipped it closed.

Slinging it over my shoulder, I looked at Ochako and Mina. "Well, I was going to eat with Izuku, but I guess I can eat with you guys now."

Mina gasped and clapped her hands together. "Yay! You can tell us all about him!"

"I've told you two everything you need to know. Now come on, I'm hungry."

"Aww, you're no fun."

Mina, Ochako and I quickly made our way down to the cafeteria, meeting up with Yumi and Toru, who had left early to go to the bathroom. We grabbed our trays and made our way along the line, picking out our food as we went.

"Hannah, do you need any more rice?" Mina pointed at the pile of rice I had lumped onto my tray.

"You think I could've gotten more?" She gave a laugh as she took a lemon from the fruit stand.

"I think you could've left some for us."

Yumi came up next to us as we made our way over towards an open booth. "Eh, Hannah's always been a bottomless pit."

"Oh, and you're not?"

"Alright, you got me there." Mina and I chuckled as we slid into an empty booth, Yumi sliding in next to me.

Ochako and Toru slid in across from us. "Are you guys excited for the Sports Festival?!" The two bubbly girls seemed to share the same pool of excitement.

Yumi took a bite from her muffin. "Dude, I'm sho exshited! I can't wait!" A few crumbs flew from her mouth as she spoke. I took a sip of from my glass of water and a smirk formed on my face.

"Oh, like how you couldn't wait to finish chewing that muffin you stuffed in your mouth?" I heard a snicker to my right and turned to see Mina covering her mouth. She quickly put down the orange juice she had in her hand and swallowed.

"Oh my god, Hannah, you almost made me choke." There was a small tear in the corner of her eye, which she quickly wiped away. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a half hug.

"Aww, I'm sorry, Mina. I wasn't meaning to." She laid her head on my shoulder and pulled me into an even tighter hug.

"It's alright, babe." My cheeks immediately lit up at Mina's words. "Calm down, Han. I'm just messing with you." She burst into laughter and ruffled my hair, turning back to the two girls across from us, and ignoring the slightly annoyed glare I shot at her.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited. I can't wait to show off my stuff." I nodded in agreement, taking a bite of rice.

"I've dreamed about being in the Festival since I was little. How can I not be excited?" Yumi looked over at me, looking like I'd just blatantly lied to her.

"Oh, so it's okay for you to talk with your mouth full, but if I do it, it's the worst thing ever?"

"Because I didn't spew crumbs everywhere. Don't worry, you'll be fine." I went to mess up her hair, but she knocked my hand away before I could get close. She gave me a glare that even caused Mina behind me to scooch back slightly.

Thankfully, her face softened and she started laughing. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, pushing her now empty tray aside.

"Anyway, we still have a few weeks before the Festival even starts. Anyone want to get together for training or something?"

Ochako looked off into the distance for a second. I could see the gears in her head turning as she lost herself in thought, before her eyes widened and she looked back at us. "Well, we're still on for the beach tomorrow, right? Why don't we combine the two?"

Mina gasped excitedly. "Uraraka, you're a genius! I'm so up for it! What about you guys?" She looked over at Yumi and I.

"Oh, for sure." Yumi gave a thumbs up and finished her glass of chocolate milk.

I thought about for a second before I gave a small shrug. "Sure, why not? I've been needing to try out the new bikini I bought when we moved here."

"Ooo, what's it look like?"

"It's nothing special, I just thought it looked cute." I grabbed my glass and finished the last of my water. As I did, the bell signaling the end of lunch period sounded. The sounds of chairs sliding across the floor filled the room, and students started filing back to their homerooms.

"Well, I guess it's a date, then."

"Totally!" We slid out from our booths and dumped our scraps in the trash, stacking our trays in a neat little pile on the table near the exit. We managed to make our way back to class fairly quickly, despite the river of students flowing both directions in the hallway.

I stopped in the door for a second, scanning the room for Izuku. He wasn't here yet, so I assumed he was still with All Might. He's so lucky, I would give anything to spend an just entire period with All Might.

"Oh, wait. He's one of my teachers, I forgot." I chuckled to myself and stepped inside, and quickly made my way over to my desk. Bakugo wasn't here yet, so I didn't receive any hostility. I decided to take this opportunity and get out my doodling notebook, having not had much time to draw recently.

A minute later, I had the basic framework for a human face down on paper. Grabbing my coloring pencils, I colored in her eyes a pleasing lilac color. Some slightly messy hair later, and there was what could be considered a cute girl on my sheet.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Izuku walking in the door. I looked up and gave him a small wave, getting his attention. He smiled and made his way over, sitting backwards in his desk.

"Hey, Hannah."

"Hey, Izuku. How did your lunch with All Might go?"

"Oh, it was good! He just wanted to talk to me about the Festival."

"Lucky!" I playfully pouted, earning a chuckle from the boy. "Oh, I almost forgot to ask you. Has All Might taken you under his wing or something? You two seem really close already."

He blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, uhh, yeah."

"Ughhhh. You're soooo luckkyyy!" I laid my head down on my desk, albeit a little harder than I wanted, a dull pain shooting through my forehead. "Ow." I heard Izuku start laughing and I raised my head to look at him.

"Oh, har har. I could have a concussion now." I caught Bakugo walking in out of the corner of my eye, and ignoring the glare he shot at us before taking his seat.

"I doubt it." He chuckled and looked down at my notebook. "Hey, whatcha got there?"

"Hmm. Oh, it's just a drawing I was in the middle of when you got here. Wanna see?

"Of course." Izuku got up from his desk and stood next to me so he could see it better. "Wow, that's really good."

"Thanks. It's not finished yet, though. I was trying to decide what color to make her hair."

"I think it's fine as is." I looked over at him.

"You want me to leave her with no hair color?"

He shook his head. "Well no, I meant her hair should be white, you don't see it very often these days. Plus, I think it would look pretty cool."

I sat and thought for a second. "Well, I'll at least color it in. I don't know many people who have blue lines in their hair." I grabbed a white pencil out of the box and quickly filled in her hair.

"Oh yeah, that does look pretty good." I looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks, Izuku." I reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, causing his cheeks to immediately redden. I heard what sounded like someone falling out of their seat on the other side of the room, but I ignored it.

"Heh, no problem, Hannah." He started leaning in closer, but I saw Mr. Aizawa walk in. I reactively pushed Izuku away, knowing that we'd be punished if we got caught. Izuku looked at me, clearly confused, but his eyes widened once he saw Mr. Aizawa.

He quickly sat down at his desk, along with the rest of the class, as All Might himself walked in the door for Hero Basic Training.

"That was sooo boring." I lazily got up from my desk and stretched. I wasn't prepared for an entire class on the rules of being a hero. I think I almost fell asleep a few times.

"Well, not all aspects of being a hero are exciting. There's a lot of rules that even pro heroes have to follow."

"Yeah, I know that. Doesn't change that fact that it was boring." Izuku nodded his head towards me in agreement. He stood beside me waiting for me to finish packing up.

"You need help with your things?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I'll be fine." I reached up to grab my pencil, but accidentally knocked it off the desk instead. As if waiting for his chance, Izuku bent down and picked it up, handing it to me.

"Heh, thanks."

"No problem." He gave a small laugh and waited until I was finished. "Ready to go?"

I nodded my head and gave him a smile. "Yep." We started making our towards the door of the classroom. When I rolled it open, however, there was a crowd of students gathered outside. Izuku and I froze like deers in headlights, neither of us sure of what to do

A few of our classmates noticed the group themselves, and walked over to us. "U-Um, why the heck are you all here?" Ochako walked up besides us, her backpack clinging to her shoulders.

"They're scouting out the competition, idiots." We looked back to see Bakugo calmly making his way past us and to the crowd. "We're the class that survived a real villain attack. They wanna see us with their own eyes."

He stopped in front of the crowd. "At least now you know what a future pro looks like. Now move it, extras."

"Kacchan, you can't walk around calling people "extras" just because you don't know who they are!"

"Shut it, Deku!" The boy beside me flinched slightly, causing me to grab his hand. He looked at me, and seeing the smile on my face, smiled back at me.

"So this is Class 1-A. I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like an ass." A boy with messy purple hair and dark bags under his eyes walked up through the crowd. "Is everyone in the hero course delusional, or just you?

"How sad to come here and find a bunch of ego maniacs." He looked past Bakugo into the classroom. I felt his eyes land on Izuku and I a couple times. "I wanted to be in the hero course, but like many others here, I was forced to choose a different track. Such is life.

"I didn't cut it the first time around, but I have another chance. If any of us do well in the Sports Festival, the teachers can decide to transfer us to the hero course. And they'll have to transfer people out to make room.

"Scouting the competition? Maybe some of my peers are, but I'm here to let you know that, if you don't bring your very best, I'll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war." Crap, I think everyone hates us now.

Bakugo started walking through the crowd, brushing past the purple-haired guy. "These people don't matter. The only thing that's important is that I beat them."

As the crowd started dispersing, I gently squeezed Izuku's hand to get his attention. "Come on, let's not worry about them. We'll miss our train if we don't get going."

"Oh, right." We turned out of the classroom and made our way down the hall. I felt a pair of eyes on me and I turned around. The purple haired guy was watching us leave, looking as if he was completely disinterested. Soon enough though, we were out of his line of sight and walking down the stone steps outside.

"Hey, Izuku.

"Yeah, Hannah?

I started twisting my hair again. "A few of the girls and I are heading to the beach tomorrow. Weather should be nice. I was wondering if you'd like to come with?" I looked over at him, seeing that he was blushing again. He looked at me and smiled.

"I'd love to." He leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. I immediately pressed myself into the kiss, but I pulled away a few seconds later, giggling.

"Alright, Romeo. We're in public. Let's hurry." Eventually, we got back to the platform and sat on a bench while we waited for our train to arrive.

I pulled out my phone and opened up the girls group chat, learning that Tenya had offered to walk Ochako home. That's a challenge, she doesn't exactly live close to school. I started tapping away at the screen.

 **HanWantsToBattle** : Hey girls, is it alright if Izuku comes along tomorrow?  
 **ZeroGirl** : Of course!  
 **AlienQueen** : Totally!  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Don't get any bright ideas, Mina. I know you.  
 **AlienQueen** : What? I'm innocent! :P  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Mmhmm.

I felt Izuku tap me on the shoulder, and I heard the squealing of brakes being applied. "Train's here." I put my phone away and followed him onboard, slumping onto Izuku's shoulder as the doors closed and the train began making its way home.


	18. A Day at the Beach

"Mmm, Izuku." Green hair tickled my nose and cheek as the normally timid boy kissed and nipped at my neck. He bit down slightly, eliciting a small cry of pain from me. My hands wandered his chest, feeling the firm muscles hiding under the All Might t-shirt he was wearing.

I tilted my head to the right, desperately trying to give him more skin to attack. A small moan left my lips, and a small fire ignited in the bottom of my stomach. I could feel the blush on my cheeks and I had started panting slightly. I thought faintly that he was literally turning me to putty.

His hand left mine, our fingers having locked together as we fell to my bed. He reached down and traced the bottom of my shirt, briefly dragging his nail across my stomach. I squirmed at his touch and he broke away from my neck to press his lips to mine.

I immediately gave him access into my mouth, both of us moaning into the kiss as Izuku started slipping his hand under my shirt. His hand tickled the skin of my stomach, causing me to squirm more.

His hand stopped suddenly, and he broke away from me, panting as much as I was. We took in each others condition, and I briefly thought about how much of a mess I must look like. Izuku didn't seem to mind, giving me a smile while slowly inching his hand up my stomach further, as if asking permission.

I swallowed and nodded my head, knowing what he was asking for. My breathing started getting heavier in anticipation and I felt Izuku moving his hand up, skimming along my skin with his fingers. As his fingers approached and found the fabric of my bra, a voice suddenly called out to me.

"Hannah?"

I froze and slowly became aware of a soft knocking noise. The world faded away and I felt the softness of my pillow embracing my head. I hesitantly opened my eyes and waited for them to adjust to the light filling my room.

Raising my head, I looked around and didn't see any sign of Izuku. "A dream." I sighed and laid back down, rolling onto my back to stare at the ceiling. I could feel the blush on my cheeks, and the small fire in the bottom of my stomach remained. I closed my eyes to go back to sleep, but I was startling by another knock on the door.

My mom's voice came through the door. "Hannah, are you awake, sweetie? It's already noon! You said you were going to the beach with your classmates today, right?"

Noon? I tapped my phone to wake it up and checked the time, the screen showing 12:02. The girls had decided on a 1pm meet-up time, so I still had some time to get ready. I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"Yeah, I'm up. I'll be out in a second."

"Alright. I gotta head to work. Can you take care of yourself until your friends get here?"

"Yes, Mom." I rolled my eyes and opened the door. The woman wrapped me in a brief hug and started downstairs. I followed her down, a yawn escaping from me.

"There's some leftovers in the fridge in case you're hungry. I'll see you when either you or I get home. Hope you guys have fun today. Love you, sweetie." She turned to me and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Love you too." She opened the front door and stepped outside. Walking over to the fridge and opening it, my eyes landed on the leftover pizza from dinner last night. My mouth started watering as I grabbed it and popped it in the microwave.

I walked up the stairs and into my room, the smell of the now warming up pizza making its way upstairs with me. I opened my closet, grabbing the cute yellow and white striped bikini I had bought last year.

"I wonder if Izuku will like this?" My cheeks warmed at the thought, and I quickly started undressing. Today would be the first time I'd worn it since I tried it back at the store. I silently hoped that I hadn't outgrown it in the time since, and once I tied the string behind my neck, I walked into the bathroom to take a look.

The top hugged my chest fittingly, but it wasn't as tight as I thought it would be. It was actually quite comfortable, I could probably get away with wearing it all day if I wanted to. I turned around and glanced back at myself in the mirror.

As with my top, my bikini bottoms hugged my butt quite comfortably, although they were just a little tight in between the legs. I hoped they wouldn't be too much of a bother, and walked back into my room to throw on a fresh shirt and shorts over top of them.

Walking back downstairs and taking my warmed-up pizza from the microwave, I sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen and played around on my phone, occasionally munching on pizza once it cooled down a little.

Eventually, my phone vibrated in my hand, inadvertently freeing me from the spiral of videos I had been watching. I closed the app and tapped on the message, smiling when I saw it was from Izuku.

 **Deku-kun** : Hey, are you awake?  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : Yeah, I have been. Why?  
 **Deku-kun** : Because I'm standing outside your door. 3  
 **HanWantsToBattle** : !

I set my pizza down and quickly unlocked the door, opening it to reveal the ever-smiling face of the boy I love, wearing a t-shirt and what looked like All Might swimming trunks. He put down the bag he was holding and wrapped his arms around me, leaning in to give me a quick kiss.

"Deku-kun." I used the nickname I had given him, causing a small blush and a smile to cross his face.

"Hey there, Hannah. Are you ready to get going?"

"Uhh..." I looked back towards the island and rechecked that I had everything I needed. Sunscreen, my sunglasses, my phone... "Oh, I forgot my towel!" He let go of me and I bounded back up the stairs, my knee thankfully not giving me any trouble..

I grabbed my towel from the top of the washing machine and wrapped it around myself. It was really nice and soft, and I had picked out the design myself; a yellow flaming heart on a black background. Yumi told me then that a flaming heart means passion and love, but I just thought it looked super cool.

When I got down the stairs, I laid my eyes on Izuku sitting at the island... eating my pizza. I cleared my throat, causing the boy to quickly put the slice down and look at me. The look on his face told me everything; he'd been caught.

I started walking towards him, still wrapped in my towel. "Who do you think you are?" He looked concerned for a second, but when he saw the smirk on my face, he relaxed and smiled at me. "You come into my house and start eating my food. Without even asking?"

"I'm sorry, Hannah. It just looked so good." I stopped in front of him and wrapped my towel around him, pulling him closer to me.

"I bet. Now, lemme have a bite." The boy reached over and picked up the slice he was snacking on, holding it in front of my face. I happily took a bite, purposefully making a 'nom' sound as I did. He let out a giggle and took a look down at his watch.

"Oh, we should get going, otherwise we'll be late." He turned his arm to show me the time. It was already 12:50, but thankfully the beach wasn't that far. I put my glasses on my head and my phone in my pocket, then grabbed Izuku's hand.

"Now I'm ready." He smiled at me and we quickly made our way out the door down towards the beach.

 **VVV**

As Izuku and I walked along the sidewalk on our way towards Dagoba Beach, I remembered what the girls had told me in our group chat. It had used to be filled with trash, but recently, I guess the city got around to cleaning it up around the time I moved here.

This is the first time that I'll have seen it, and I was getting excited. I'd always loved going to the beach back in America, the sand and the water managed to keep me out there all day.

A small squeeze of my hand brought me back to reality. I looked over at Izuku, who pointed up ahead. "We're here." I looked up and saw a weather-beaten sign for Dagoba Beach, sitting on top of a cobblestone wall.

We got closer and I could hear people laughing and waves splashing on the beach below us. Soon, the beach itself came into view, the sun shining off the water and making each wave shimmer. The sand was a pleasing off white, and I could see a few people down at the end of the pier.

Izuku pointed to a staircase that led down to the sand. Making our way down, I spotted a girl with pink skin walking along the water, and shook my head.

"Of course, Mina would be here early."

"I'm not surprised, either." As we got closer, the girl looked up from the sand, her expression changing from one of slight boredom to her usual smiles and excitement when she saw us walking across the sand and she excitedly hopped her way over to us.

"Hey! You guys made it!" She wrapped her arms around both of us and turned to Izuku.

"Midoriya, I love your trunks!" The boy blushed and started scratching the back of his head.

"Heh, t-thanks, Ashido. My mom got them for me for my birthday last year, but I-I never got a chance to wear them."

"Well, today is as good a time as any, haha!"

"Speaking of swimwear, Mina, I love your bikini." A sea blue bikini contrasted perfectly against Mina's pink skin, and the girl excitedly smiled at me.

"Oh, thank you! I'd love yours too if I could see it."

"Well, I didn't want to walk across town in just my bikini." I started making my way over towards the spot where Mina had set up her towel and a bag of various objects, frisbees and such, with Mina and Izuku in tow.

I kicked off my flip-flops and started pulling my shirt over my head, a slight breeze blowing through and giving me goosebumps across my stomach as I dropped it to the sand. I hooked my thumbs into my shorts and pulled them down, kicking them off near my shirt and flips-flops.

I heard Izuku and Mina talking as they got closer, talking about some homework that Mr. Aizawa had given us over the weekend, and I turned to face them. Izuku looked over at me and stopped, a blush starting to slowly creep cross his cheeks. I could feel his eyes on me, and I responded with a blush of my own.

"W-What do you think, Izuku?" I saw his blush spread quicker and he took a breath to steady himself, before he looked at me with a smile.

"You look beautiful." His words caused me to smile back at him, and my legs started carrying me over to the boy. He wrapped his arms around me and I laid my head on his shoulder.

Mina tapped me on the shoulder. "As much as I'd like to let this tender moment continue, we have company." I took my head off Izuku's shoulder and looked over towards the stairs.

Three girls were making their way down towards the sand and I quickly recognized them as Ochako, Yumi and Tsu. Ochako was carrying a small basket of some kind, I couldn't tell if there was anything inside from this distance, however.

Mina waved at them and spoke up. "Hey, you guys! We're over here." Ochako turned her head towards us and got the attention of the other two girls, before they quickly made their way over.

"Hey, guys, glad you could make it." Ochako gave us wave, setting down the basket and sitting down next to Mina. I looked inside and saw quite a few sandwiches, enough for all of us to have a few each.

I looked around and glanced at Ochako. "Hey, where's Toru?"

"Oh, she couldn't make it. She said she had to go shopping with her mom."

Yumi and Tsu sat next to Izuku and I. I looked over at them and took a look at their attire. Yumi was wearing her usual black, although she looked really nice in a bikini. Meanwhile, Tsu was wearing a green and white striped one-piece. It didn't show much, but she made it work.

Yumi leaned in towards me. "Checking everyone out, Han?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was curious what you guys would wear."

Tsu nodded. "That's logical. This was the only swimsuit I had that still fit me."

"It looks good on you, Tsu. You should wear it more often." Mina gave her a thumbs up and turned to Ochako. "What about you, Uraraka? What's your story?"

"Oh, I just wanted to wear something nice looking." She patted the basket next to her. "And since we're going to be active, I stayed up last night and made sandwiches for everyone."

"Oh, wow. That's so nice of you, Uraraka." Izuku reached in and went to grab one, but Ochako slapped his hand away.

"Deku, they're for after we're done!" She giggled and leaned back on her hands.

"Well, if that's the case, you guys wanna get started?" Mina stood up, clearly not giving us much of a choice.

 **VVV**

None of us wanted to do anything too stressful, so we decided to have a friendly race. We'd break into pairs and would start at the stone wall at the back of the beach. At the edge of the water, someone will stand with their arms out, and the first to give that person a high five wins.

Izuku put his hand on his chin, trying to recall the matchups we came up with. "Alright, so Yumi will go against Ashido, Hannah against Uraraka, and I'll go against Asui." Tsu turned to the boy, her face displaying no emotion, as usual.

"I told you to call me Tsu."

"O-Oh, sorry. I'll go against Tsu. Anyone have any issues with who they're racing against?" We all shook our heads. "Alright, let's get started." He smiled and walked over towards the water, having volunteered to be the finish line.

Yumi and Mina made their way over to the wall, while Ochako, Tsu and I stood by the side waiting for them to start. I leaned over towards the two beside me. "So, who do you guys think will win?"

Tsu put her finger against her lips. "If I remember correctly, Mina had the faster time back during the test Mr. Aizawa had us run on the first day." Ochako nodded her head and laughed.

"Yeah, but that wasn't at the beach. So, who knows? Maybe it'll be a surprise." I turned my attention back to Izuku, who had his hand raised in the air, ready to drop it and start the race.

"Ready?" The two girls gave thumbs up and braced themselves, trying to find some traction in the sand. No one said anything, not wanting to distract either of the girls. The silence was deafening, and just as I thought Izuku wasn't going to start the race, his hand dropped.

Yumi and Mina pushed off the wall, both girls' feet slipping in the sand initially. Yumi got her footing first, however, and sprinted off into the lead. Ochako and I started cheering on whoever we were pulling for, in my case, Yumi.

Mina got a grip in the sand and started closing the gap up to Yumi, who looked back at her opponent. I saw a small smirk appear on her face and she started slowing down.

"No, Yumi. Don't slow down." She's had a habit of getting overconfident when she's winning since before I met her. And it had come back to bite her more times than not, mostly whenever we played games against each other.

Mina was gaining quicker now, and as Yumi reached out her hand for Izuku's, a pink blur raced past her and slapped Izuku's other hand before falling ungracefully into the water, while Yumi stopped short, putting her hands on her knees.

She looked over at Izuku. "Did I win?"

"Sorry, no. Mina did." Izuku smiled at her, and offered his hand to Mina, helping her up.

"Awww, craaaap." She threw her fist in slight disgust and put her hands on her hips. After a few seconds of sulking, she shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well. Good race, Mina." She gave the girl a pat on the back.

"Oh, thanks. You too." She laughed and wrapped her arms around Yumi. Izuku looked over towards us and smiled, reminding me that Ochako and I were next. I gently tapped on the girls' shoulder, grabbing her attention.

"You ready to go, Ochako?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." We made our way over to the wall, the look of determination that she had shown yesterday when the Sports Festival was announced starting to peek through on her face. She was probably trying to pump herself up a little, even though this was for fun.

We lined up against the wall, Ochako crouching down slightly. I pressed my right heel against the cold stone, and got down on one knee, waiting for Izuku to raise his hand up. Once he did, I leaned forward slightly, acutely aware that my butt was in the air. I slowed my breathing and waited.

Izuku dropped his hand, and I pushed off the wall with my foot. However, I forgot that I was on sand for a second, and my left foot slipped backwards. I fell forward and face planted into the ground.

I could faintly hear Yumi losing it off to the side, but I ignored her and got back up. Ochako was able to put some distance between us, but I started catching up. I quickly dove for Izuku's hand, Ochako smacking Izuku's left hand just before I could get to his right.

I stopped with my feet in the water to wipe sand off my face and out of my hair. Izuku came over and put his hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay, Hannah?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I turned and smiled at him. He reached up and wiped away some sand from my cheek, causing me to blush lightly. He smiled back at me and leaned in, giving me a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Aww, that's so cute!" We both turned and looked over at Mina, who was silently squeeing alongside Ochako. Yumi and Tsu were stood beside them, the frog-girl watching us with her usual vacant expression.

The boy stepped away from me, his cheeks as red as mine, and rubbed the back of his head. "O-Oh, uhh, sorry guys, heh. It's our turn, right Asui?"

"Yes. And I told you to call me Tsu." I thought I could hear some irritation in her voice, but it may have just been my imagination. Tsu isn't usually the kind to let emotion get the best of her. She and Izuku made their way over to the wall, while I raised my hand into the air having volunteered to be the finish line.

"Are you two ready?" I half-yelled across the beach. Izuku nodded and gave me a thumbs up.

"Yep."

"Ribbit."

I held up my hand, counting in my head to five, before dropping it. Immediately, Tsu launched herself into the air, landing just next to me. She gave my right hand a slap before turning back to look at Izuku. The boy hadn't even gotten away from the wall, and the expression on his face showed that he was just as shocked as I was.

"Asu- Tsu, that wasn't very fair."

"It was a race, wasn't it?" I couldn't read her face, but I could imagine that she was challenging him to disagree with her. He looked over at me for help, but all I could do was shrug and try not to laugh too much.

 **VVV**

Soon after, we all gathered round and Ochako opened her basket to let us at her much-hyped sandwiches. Yumi was clearly eager to get her hands on them, since she essentially tore two out of their bags and downed them before we could finish with one.

I managed to grab a few that Ochako had put mayonnaise in, much to my delight. She said that some didn't have mayo on them, in case we don't like it. I thanked her and went to sit down close to the water's edge, not very fair from the others.

The sun was starting to set, the sky slowly turning a beautiful orange. I never got the opportunity to watch the sun set back in America, so this was something I was wanting to see while I was here. As I took in the sunset and munched on the last of my sandwich, I heard someone sit down next to me.

I heard someone sit down next to me and I saw a flash of green hair in my peripheral vision. I didn't need to look to know that it was Izuku, and my assumption was confirmed when he spoke.

"Enjoying the sunset?" An arm wrapped around my waist and I unconsciously scooted closer to him.

"Yeah. I never really had the chance to watch the sun go down before, so I thought this would be a good opportunity" He looked at me questioningly.

"Never?"

I shook my head. "The town I lived in didn't have many places to watch from. Best place was probably my bedroom window on the second floor." He made a

We sat there watching the sun and the motion of the waves for a few minutes. The warmth from Izuku's body was starting to lull me to sleep and I started snuggling up to him due to the chill in the air. I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, feeling him look down at me.

"Tired?" I shook my head again, not wanting to say anything. He chuckled and shook his shoulder, causing me to look at him with a slightly annoyed look on my face.

"What?" He got up and started heading back to towards the others, grabbing something before making his way back over. I turned and watched him as he sat back down next to me, holding something in his hand.

"S-So, I was wondering..." I could see the blush on his cheeks despite the darkness slowly enveloping us. He held out his hand, and in it he held my phone with the camera app open. The camera reflected on the screen what it saw; Izuku and I, our backs to the ocean, with the dropping, orange sun in the background.

I looked over at him and smiled, my heart starting to beat a little quicker. "Since when did you get so smooth?" I grabbed his hand and laid my head on his shoulder.

"I don't know. It just came to me." He gave me a kiss on the forehead, and turned back to look into the camera. He tapped the button on the screen, which flashed a few seconds later. He held my phone in front of us so that we could see it, a smile crossing my face as he leaned closer to me.

I looked over at the other girls, who had started to pack up their things. Izuku squeezed my hand gently, and I looked back at him. He smiled at me and leaned in, closing the distance between us and pressing his lips to mine. I pushed back against him, not wanting to let him take control as easily as last time.

Before I could attempt anything, however, he broke away. I whined softly, and he gave me another brief kiss before looking at me. "We're in public, Hannah." He had a point, we could get in trouble if we were to be caught. Plus, we're students at UA, so that could come back and bite the school if their students were caught making out in public.

I nodded at him, taking a breath to try and control the blush that had quickly crossed my cheeks. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him, us having separated slightly when he went to grab my phone.

"Hey, lovebirds!" We looked over at Mina, who had put her clothes back on and was waving over at us. "We're leaving! Are you coming or not?"

"Oh yeah, it's getting pretty dark. We should start heading home." He got up and offered me his hand, which I happily accepted. He handed my phone back to me and Mina threw me my clothes. I quickly slipped them on and stepped into my flip-flops. I checked to make sure I had everything and made my way to Izuku and the girls.

He grabbed my hand as we made our way over to the stairs with everyone else. Once we started making our way down the sidewalk, I noticed Mina kept glancing back at us every few minutes. I tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to turn and walk backwards to look at me.

"What is it, Mina?"

"Oh, nothing~" She laughed and turned back around.

"You two really are just so cute."


	19. Just For This One Night

**Warning: This chapter contains a sexually explicit scene. If you're not interested in that stuff, then don't worry. Nothing important to the plot occurs in this chapter, so you can go ahead and skip if you'd like to.**

* * *

The two weeks leading up to the Sports Festival seemed to pass by rather quickly. The atmosphere in and around UA started to noticeably change as the day of the event got closer and closer, the entire campus buzzing with excitement in the preceding days. Banners started being put up all over town and there were posters for the event in nearly every hallway.

Izuku and I were training with and against each other nearly every day. The boy was getting faster and stronger, even managing to actually beat me a couple times. He was so excited when he got me down for the first time, it was so adorable. I just had to give him a kiss as a reward.

Whenever we weren't sparring, we'd often be up in my room, either studying or playing on my PS4, competitively as always. We somehow found a way to even make the fake quizzes we gave each other competitive, both of us wanting to score higher than the other. Safe to say, neither of us were really able to outscore the other.

My mom seemed extra supportive during this time, too. She clearly didn't mind Izuku being over so much. In fact, she actually went through the trouble of making extras for dinner a couple times, so that there would be enough for him.

There were even a few nights where Izuku had to stay over, either due to the weather or just because we wore ourselves out with our training. I hadn't ever slept with someone else in my bed before, but I always found myself snuggling up close to Izuku. He would wrap his arm around my stomach and bury his face into my neck, and we'd stay that way until my phone went off in the morning.

And tonight was starting to look like one of those nights. The Sports Festival was in only a couple days, but Izuku and I wanted to get some training in last minute. It had been cloudy all day until now, and it had begun to rain just after we finished up and got inside.

A few minutes later, the slight drizzle had become a steady shower, and it was obvious that if he tried to walk home, he would get soaked. He sat down on my bed next to me as I scrolled through the library of games I had downloaded onto my PS4.

"Too wet?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You mind grabbing my phone for me?"

"Not at all." I reached over, grabbing his phone from my nightstand and handing it to him. He took it from me with a smile and started tapping away at the screen, putting it to his ear and waiting for a few seconds.

"Hey Mom, it's me. Yeah. I'm at Hannah's right now. You're okay if I stay with them for the night, right? Or at least until the rain let's up?" He was silent for a second as I assumed he listened to what his mom had to say. "Okay, I'll let them know. Heh, thanks Mom. Love you, too. Bye."

He laid his phone down on the bed and sighed. I had selected a game while he was on the phone and made a new save. I felt arms wrap around my stomach and I looked back at Izuku, who had crawled and sat behind me.

"Are you staying for the night?"

"Only until it stops raining, my mom is planning on making katsudon tonight." He leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

"Oo, I love katsudon!" I smiled and picked up the controller, having been given control of my character.

"What kind of game is this?"

"I don't know. Some platformer I picked up on sale a while ago." We sat there for the first few minutes, Izuku occasionally pointing at something or offering commentary on the story. The first few actual platforming sequences weren't too hard, as it was the start of the game, and soon I was managing to hop between floating platforms and over spikes like a pro.

At least, until Izuku decided to suddenly tickle my sides. I clenched my teeth and twitched away from his fingers, but the distraction was enough for me to land in a pit of spikes. My shoulders dropped and I turned to look at the boy, who was now feigning innocence.

"Really?" He looked at me and smiled, knowing exactly what he did.

"What? I didn't do anything." I eyed him suspiciously and shook my head before turning back towards the screen and respawning. I got back through the level easily enough, but as I went to make a jump across to a secret area I had spotted, Izuku started tickling my sides again.

I tried to hold in my laughs, a few escaping from my closed mouth. My character landed the jump and I immediately paused the game, tossing the controller onto my nightstand.

"Alright! That's it!" I quickly turned and grabbed Izuku's sides, a smirk appearing on my face as the boy started trying to hold in his laughs and twitch away from me. I pushed him over and started attacking his stomach, the laughs he was holding in finally escaping from his mouth.

I kept tickling his stomach for a few seconds, before he started pleading for me to stop. Sitting back on his legs, I pulled my hands away and watched him lay there with tears in his eyes, trying to catch his breath. He looked up at me and started chuckling quietly. I smiled and went to get off his legs when he sat up and tackled me to the bed.

Before I could question him, his fingers were snaking along my stomach and laughs were forcing their way out of my mouth. He sat on my legs, in the same way I did with his, and continued the assault. I tried to get away from his fingers, but he kept pinning me beneath him.

I was about to yell for him to stop, but he took his fingers away. He put his hands on either side of my head and propped himself up above me, watching as I tried to regain my composure. I opened my eyes and caught sight of Izuku, looking down at me and smiling.

I lost myself in his eyes and unconsciously started smiling back at him, a small blush crossing my face. We stared at each other for a few seconds before I felt the need to say something.

"H-Hi."

"Hi." I could see his own blush starting to spread, and our breathing was starting to get slightly heavier. He started leaning down, but I raised myself up to meet him halfway. Our lips crashed together and our tongues entwined, beginning the battle for dominance. Hands and fingers interlocked as we fought, and I quickly realized that I was on the losing end again.

We broke away from each other, both of us blushing and panting messes. The fire had reignited and my head was slightly cloudy as Izuku came back down. He started kissing and sucking on the skin of my neck, causing me to shiver and a small moan to leave my lips. I tilted my head to the side, trying to give him more skin to assault with his loving kisses and nips.

I thought faintly that we should try to be quiet, that my mom is downstairs, but Izuku bit down gently. I let out a small cry, Izuku quickly covering my mouth and looking over towards the door. We waited for a few seconds, the blushing boy looking back at me with a smile before leaning back down.

He started trailing kisses along my collarbone, all the while tracing his pointer finger along the bottom of my shirt. He slowly pulled my shirt up, exposing the skin of my stomach to his loving touch. I squirmed as he slowly drug his nails across, obviously loving how much control he had over me.

I felt him plant another kiss on my neck before looking up at me. I must've looked like a mess, my cheeks felt like they were going to melt, my heart was pounding so hard I was afraid it was going to explode and I just couldn't seem to stop panting so much. He sat up on my legs and placed his hands on my stomach, the contact sending small shivers throughout me.

He slowly started moving them up, pulling the bottom of my shirt up with them. He looked at me, blushing madly and panting as much as I was. His eyes were asking for my permission to continue, and my mind was too cloudy to deny him. I lazily nodded my head, and I bit my lip in anticipation.

Izuku slowly pulled my shirt up, exposing more skin along the way. He stopped for a second when he reached the bottom of my bra, his eyes widening slightly. He pushed my shirt up the rest of the way, revealing the modest pink bra I had changed into when we came inside. I think he was stunned for a second, as he sat there staring before he shook his head and looked at me.

Giving me an incredibly nervous-looking smile, he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. My mouth hang slightly agape as I took in every muscle and edge in his chest and stomach. He laid back down over me, allowing me to reach up and feel his impossibly soft yet firm skin, glistening slightly with sweat.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and brought him down on top of me, our lips connecting once again. The feeling of Izuku's body against mine was almost indescribable, the warmth coming from him bringing comfort and mixing with the heat pooling in the bottom of my stomach. I wrapped my legs around his to make sure he wouldn't get away.

I felt him run his hand up my side and graze against my bra. My back arched slightly and I gave a small moan into our kiss. I broke off and looked into his eyes, silently pleading with him to stop toying with me. He smirked and ran his finger over the top of my bra again, eliciting another moan and an annoyed glare from me.

"Deku-kun..."

He gave a soft chuckle, but continued to just graze against my bra, watching every squirm and arch and listening to every moan. Eventually, he stopped to stared at my panting and blushing form, every part of my body feeling incredibly sensitive to his touch. He hooked his fingers up underneath the bottom, but I grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"I-I'll do it." He let me sit up, watching as I reached behind my back and unhooked my bra. It fell from my chest, revealing my boobs to the shocked, green-haired boy. I dropped the garment to the floor and suddenly started feeling very self-conscious, half-heartedly covering up.

"I-I'm sorry t-that they're not bigger." He shook his head and smiled at me, gently pushing me to the bed and giving me a kiss.

"They're perfect." He pulled my hands away, replacing them with his own. I gasped and arched my back into his hands, and I pressed my lips to his. My moans entered his mouth as he started rolling his thumbs over my nipples. Jolts of electricity coursed through my chest, and I had to break away from him to breath.

Izuku kept rolling his thumb around my left nipple, while he leaned down and laid a small kiss on my right, before wrapping his lips around it completely. I gasped audibly and laid my head back, covering my mouth before letting out a moan. He swirled his tongue around, and gently bit down, causing me to whimper softly. I placed my hand on the back of his head, making sure he couldn't pull away from my chest.

Suddenly, a knock on the door caused us both to freeze, like a squirrel trying to cross a busy road. Crap, I forgot my mom was home! I hope we hadn't been making too much noise, I don't know what I'd do if she were to catch us like this.

Her voice made its way through the door, Izuku and I both praying that she wouldn't open it. "Hannah, Izuku! Dinner is almost ready!"

"O-okay, Mom! We'll be down i-in a sec."

"Are you okay, Hannah? You sound out of breath." My head was still a little foggy, and I quickly looked around trying to think of a lie. My eyes landed on the TV, still showing the pause screen of the game I had been playing.

"Y-Yeah, we're just in the middle of a game." Another wave of pleasure shot through me, causing me to squeak before I could cover my mouth. I glared down at Izuku, who I realized hadn't actually let go of my nipple. He looked back up at me and gave me another lick, smirking when I twitched and covered my mouth again.

"Hmm, alright. You two don't be too long, or your food may get cold." We waited until she headed back downstairs, and I gently knocked Izuku away, crawling to the edge of the bed to pick up our clothes.

"What is wrong with you?! You realize my mom could've caught us, right?" I tossed his shirt at him, not surprised at all with how easily he caught it.

He smirked at me and pulled his shirt on. "I'm sorry, Hannah. I couldn't help it."

"Oh, you're not sorry at all."

"I am actually kind of sorry." I pulled my shirt over my head and turned to face him, guilt clearly evident on his face.

"What for?"

"For what happened, just now. I don't know what came over me, I just..." I gave a small laugh and pressed my lips against his. He stopped trying to apologize and reciprocated, giving me a questioning look when I pulled away.

"You don't need to be sorry. I enjoyed what happened... even if we were interrupted." I twisted my hair around my finger and shot him a smile.

"Oh, well, then I-I guess I'm glad for what happened." A small blush appeared on his cheeks, as he probably went over what we did in his head. I hopped off the bed to set my PS4 to 'Rest Mode', and offered him my hand.

"I bet, haha. Now, come on, we don't want to keep my mom waiting."

 **VVV**

The smell of homemade cheeseburgers wafted up to us as we made our way downstairs. My stomach growled in want, and the sound of us pulling a few chairs away from the table alerted my mom to our presence.

"Oh good, I was just finishing up." She put down a knife, and picked up a couple plates, bringing them over to the table. "Izuku, I didn't know what you liked on your burgers, so I just gave you what Hannah usually has."

"Oh, that's okay. My mom is making dinner tonight, so I don't want to eat too much." He sat down next to me and my mom put our plates down in front of us.

"That's perfectly fine. Eat as much as you want."

My usual cheeseburger with ketchup, pickles and probably a little too much mayo stared back at me, along with a side of fries. I picked it up, licked my lips, and took my first bite.

"Mmm." I closed my eyes and savored the taste of the combining flavors, feeling a small smile cross my face. I absolutely loved my mom's cooking. No matter what she made, it always ended up amazing.

My mom looked over at us from the kitchen, as she started putting together her own burger. "Are you two ready for the Sports Festival?"

I nodded quickly. "Well, with how much training we've been doing, I'd be surprised if we weren't." I looked over at Izuku and smiled, grabbing his hand under the table. He smiled back at me and gave my hand a small squeeze.

"Yeah, Hannah's training has really helped. It should be really effective if I can get in close."

"And what happens if you two end up having to face each other?" She glanced over at us, probably curious as to what we'd say. We all knew the format of the Sports Festival, whoever made it through the first two challenges would be thrown into a single elimination tournament. It was entirely possible that Izuku and I would end up having to fight.

We looked at each other and I turned to look back at my mom. "We talked about that earlier and agreed that we wouldn't hold back." She gave a laugh as she finished making her burger, picking up her plate and making her way to the table.

"Well, no matter what happens, Izuku's mother and I will be watching. We're sure you two will give it your best shot."

I chuckled and looked over at Izuku, giving him a small pout. "You're gonna try your best, right?"

"O-Of course! Why wouldn't I? Weren't we just saying we weren't going to hold back!?"

"Oh, I'm just messing with you." I laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing him to turn a light shade of red.

My mom chuckled as she sat down across from us. "Alright, you two. Get eating, your food is starting getting cold."

At some point while Izuku and I were having our fun, it had stopped raining. The sun came out and was now starting to fall below the trees on the other side of town, turning the sky a pleasing orange color.

Izuku had grabbed his bag from upstairs and was pulling on his jacket when I wrapped my arms around his stomach and laid my head on his shoulder. He looked back at me and smiled, having guessed what I was thinking.

"Hannah, I promised my mom I'd be home after it stopped raining."

"I knooooww. Doesn't mean I want you to leave." He turned around and grabbed my hands, leaning in to lay a quick kiss on my lips. He pulled away but kept his face close to mine, our noses touching, forcing a light blush to cross my cheeks and my eyes to lose themselves in his.

"Hannah, you know very well that we'll see each other again tomorrow. We do have class after all." He brought me into a hug, his hair tickling my forehead and nose. I stuffed my face into his neck and wrapped my arms around him.

"I know, Deku-kun." We stood there in each others arms for a few seconds before Izuku looked down at his pocket. He reached in and took out his phone, tapping the screen to wake it up.

He looked at the screen and read whatever it showed for a few seconds. "Oh, my mom almost done cooking. I guess I should get going."

I looked at him and gave a small pout. "Okaaay, fine." I leaned in and pressed my lips to his, trying to catch him off guard. However, he started pushing back and his tongue forced its way in between my lips to wrap around mine. But before I could do anything, he pulled away and looked at me.

I could feel the heat on my cheeks and my heart was beating quicker. I took a breath to calm myself and smiled at him. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Definitely." He smiled back at me and gave me a kiss on the forehead, before turning and stepped through the doorway. We waved at each other, and I watched as he made his way down the sidewalk toward his apartment. After he left my sight, I shut the door and made my way up to my room.

~~~~~Izuku's POV~~~~~

As I turned the corner onto my street, I couldn't help but think about what happened earlier. As long as Hannah and I had been together, we'd never gone that far. I wasn't even sure of what to do, I just kind of let my hands do what they wanted. It was all I could do to keep from completely freaking out.

And when she let me... see her... boobs... My mind went blank and I couldn't think or do anything for a few seconds. And she let me touch them, too... They were so soft, and the sounds she made when I touched them...

I stopped and shook my head. I can't be thinking like that, especially with the Sports Festival in just a few days. My boxers started feeling tight again, and I reached down to readjust myself, gasping quietly as the fabric rubbed across me. It'll have to wait until I can get to my room. I'll just have to stand the urge until then.

I had started walking again when I felt my phone vibrate twice in my pocket, signaling that I had received a text. I reached into my pocket and saw it was from Hannah. Memories of earlier started coming back, but I shook my head and opened her text.

 **Hannah** : Hey, Izuku. Are you home yet?  
 **Deku** : Almost. Why do you ask?  
 **Hannah** : Well...  
 **Hannah** : You had fun earlier, when... you know, right?  
 **Deku** : Oh, of course. :)  
 **Hannah** : Well, we didn't really get to finish, so...  
 _ **Hannah shared an image -  
**_ **Hannah** : Would you be up for Round 2? ;)

I almost dropped my phone when I saw the picture she sent. There wasn't much light in her room, but her face was lit up by the flash from her phone. She was lying down in her bed, and she didn't have her shirt on. I could see everything, from the way her hair seemed to frame her face, to the huge blush on her cheeks down to the top of her stomach. My eyes took in every inch of her, every curve and every small bruise from our training sticking out to me.

Eventually, my eyes landed on her boobs, in the middle of everything else. I remembered the way they felt in my hands, how smooth they were, the sounds I made her make. My cheeks reddened to seemingly match the color of hers, and I could feel myself straining against my boxers.

"I-I guess I can think like this for one night." I quickly tapped away at the screen and hit 'Send'

 **Deku** : I'll be home in a second!

I don't remember ever running home as quickly as I did that day.


	20. The Day Before The Festival

This chapter features an OC made by one of my good friends, Summer. She had given me permission to use her a while back, but I couldn't find a good opportunity to insert her into the story until now.

Thanks, Summer :)

* * *

"Mom, they're just going over the rules for the Festival today. I'm pretty sure it'll just be kind of a 'hang out and have fun' day." I grabbed my bag off the table and slung it over my shoulders, sitting down to slip on my shoes.

"You should still pay attention. They may have changed something since last year." I nodded towards her, noting that she has a point. Every year, the television broadcast goes over the rules and any changes that were made, if any. They've been the same for awhile, but you never know.

I grabbed my phone off the counter and stuffed it into my pocket. "I'll let you know if they have, alright?"

"Alright, sweetie. Have a good day!" I gave her a quick hug before opening the door and stepping outside. The chill of the morning air gave me goosebumps and I wrapped my arms around myself, regretting my decision to not take a jacket. I stopped and waited to see green hair appear in the distance, Izuku having offered to walk with me to school today.

I started thinking back to last night as I waited, the events still fresh in my mind. Neither Izuku nor I were very satisfied after my mom almost caught us yesterday. After he got home, we stayed up late and watched each other... get off.

We were incredibly nervous, so we agree to not show anything below the waist. But the looks on our faces and sounds that we made were more than enough to tip us both over the edge at almost the same time.

After we finished, I got cuddled up in my blankets and we talked for another few hours until I ended up passing out. I woke up with my mom knocking at my door and my phone going off in my hand, my hair a mess and with no shirt on. Safe to say, I had to get ready in a hurry.

I saw a flash of green out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Izuku running down the sidewalk towards me. He stopped in front of me and put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"What... What time... is it?" I slid back my sleeve and took a look at my watch.

"We've still got 15 minutes before first bell." He gave an exasperated sigh and stood up, taking a few deep breaths and stretching.

"I accidentally slept in and thought I was going to be late." He laughed and smiled at me, a blush appearing on his cheeks. I smiled back, becoming aware of the blush on my own face, and grabbed his hand.

"To be honest, so did I. Plus, my mom almost walked in on me without a shirt on this morning." We started walking down the sidewalk towards UA, quickly spotting a few banners for the Festival along the side of the street. I clung to his arm and looked up at him. "I'm glad we did it, though. It felt so good doing it with someone else."

I saw his blush spread and he quickly nodded. "Y-Yeah, me too. I-I've never really done that before with anyone."

"Neither have I. I'm glad you were my first."

He looked at me and smiled. "I-I'm glad you were my first, too." I closed the gap between us, our lips connecting only for a brief few seconds. I looked down at my watch, and slightly panicked for a second.

"Come on, we need to hurry if we don't want to be late." The tone of my voice told Izuku all he needed to know.

We actually needed to start hurrying now.

 **VVV**

Izuku and I had long ago become used to walking through the UA halls hand in hand. We had managed to tell to rest of our class and a even few of the more friendly members of Class 1-B. Everyone else just kind of ignored us, but that was fine. Those who needed to know about us, knew about us.

We had even come out as a couple to a few of our teachers, including All Might, who enthusiastically gave us his full support. Izuku and I had mini heart attacks when Mr. Aizawa caught us sharing a quick kiss on a bench outside, but even he surprisingly let us off with a warning, saying something about having his fair share of moments when he was our age.

The first thing I noticed once we approached Class 1-A was the amount of people hauling stuff around. The door to our homeroom was wide open, and I could see students pouring in and out of Class 1-B down the hall. Even a few of our classmates were amongst them, helping out.

I scratched my head in confusion. "That's strange. Aren't classes supposed to be starting about now?"

Izuku took a quick look down at his watch. "Yeah, they should be. Let's see what's going on."

We walked in and immediately saw no sign of Mr. Aizawa. I looked to my left, Mina excitedly chatting away with Ochako and Tsu. Yumi was in her desk, but she had her head down in her arms. It was incredibly obvious that she was out cold.

"Hey, Mina..." I tapped the girl on her shoulder, grabbing her attention and inadvertently directing her beam of energy towards us.

"Oh, hey, guys. What's up?"

"What's going on? Shouldn't class have started by now?"

She turned around in her desk to face me. "Oh, apparently they're still setting everything up for the Festival tomorrow. Cameras, microphones, things like that. They even let some of the students help to try and make the job go faster."

Izuku nodded and looked around quickly. "That would explain why class hasn't started yet."

"And why Mr. Aizawa isn't here. He's probably helping out somewhere."

Mina nodded excitedly and smiled at us. "There's probably some stuff 1-B needs help with if you two want something to do."

Izuku motioned towards Mina. "Why can't you do it?"

"Well... I'm busy with Tsu and Uraraka."

I raised my eyebrow in suspicion. "Busy? It looked like you guys were just chatting when we walked in." The pink girl looked up towards the ceiling briefly, clearly trying to think up an excuse, but a voice called out to us from behind her.

"She doesn't want to stand up, ribbit."

"Tsu!" Mina stomped her foot and turned to confront the frog girl. "Why'd you say something?"

The look on Tsu's face gave nothing away, and she tipped her finger against her mouth. "What? It's true." Ochako and I bursted into a small fit of laughter, causing Yumi to stir and glance at us.

"Could you guys be quiet? I didn't much sleep last night." She readjusted and was asleep again within seconds, causing the girls next to her to laugh and start questioning how she could always fall asleep so quickly.

I smiled and turned to Izuku. "What do you say we leave sleeping beauty to her nap and see if there's anything for us to do?" He nodded and followed me out the door into the hallway.

Students from both classes were flowing in and out of the door to 1-B, most carrying different kinds of equipment out of the room. As Izuku and I walked up to the door, a girl with strikingly white hair walked out and turned towards us. She was carrying a couple small boxes in her arms, and appeared to be lost in her own world when she tripped on her feet and fell forward to the ground.

The boxes she was carrying flew from her arms and scattered across the hall, one of them bouncing off of my foot. Izuku and I quickly rushed over to her, as she quietly cursed and sat up on her knees.

"Hey, are you alright?" She nodded and smiled, rather beautiful violet eyes bouncing between Izuku and I.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thank you." I offered her my hand, which she happily took and I helped her up to her feet. Izuku went around and started gathering the boxes that she had been carrying.

I took a look at her, and realized that I had no clue who she was. "I don't believe we've met before. Are you new here?" She dusted herself off before turning to me with a smile.

"Yep. Well, kinda sorta. I transferred in last week, but today's my first day of class cause I was sick."

"Oh, okay. Well, allow me to welcome you to UA." I bowed gently and looked up at her. "I'm Hannah Sato."

"And I'm Izuku Midoriya." The boy made his way over to my side and put the boxes down, politely bowing towards her.

"Ah, a few people in my class were talking about you two, I think. You guys are a couple, right?" I nodded and grabbed Izuku's hand, causing a light blush to adorn his cheeks. The girl giggled at his reaction and bowed back to us.

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys. I'm Kisaki Shiro." She smiled at us, but before we could converse further, the first bell went off, signaling that classes where about to start. I hadn't even noticed, but the halls had virtually cleared of students, besides a few stragglers who quickly made their way to their homerooms.

"Oh no! I have to get these to Present Mic!" She picked up the boxes and waved at us as she ran by. "I'll see you guys later!"

Izuku squeezed my hand, causing me to look over at him. "We better get back ourselves. Don't want to get in trouble with Mr. Aizawa the day before the Festival."

"Oh, yeah, heh. That's probably a good idea."

 **VVV**

Just as I thought, there were no real lessons taught. Mr. Aizawa, along with Present Mic, All Might and Midnight, went through all the guidelines and rules for the Sports Festival. Not much took me by surprise, having heard it all on TV multiple times, and everything could be summed up in a single sentence: Don't do anything stupid.

Meanwhile, Izuku had basically taken mental notes on every single word that came out of their mouths. I couldn't help but smile as I watched him absorb all the information. He always worked so hard, it was almost as if he had something to prove to the world. I'm pretty sure some of his mentality had even rubbed off on me, as I often found myself furiously taking notes on occasion, or training just that extra bit harder than before.

Once the heroes finished up, Mr. Aizawa gave us some extra information; times to be there, concessions, stuff like that. He let us do what we wanted for the rest of the period, so Izuku and I just brainstormed different Quirk ideas until the bell rang. Our favorite turned out to be the ability to turn inanimate objects into chocolate.

After Izuku and I filled our trays, we picked out a booth next to the windows. He let me slide in first before setting down his tray and sliding in after me.

"Once again, the majority of the rice goes to the brawler." Mina made her way over, having been behind us in line. She sat down across from us and immediately started sipping on her orange juice.

I looked down at the relatively large pile of rice I had lumped onto my tray and scooped some up with my spoon and shrugged. "What can I say? It's good rice." I popped the spoonful into my mouth for emphasis.

The boy next to me chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I would stop her from taking so much, but she'd take my arm off." I nodded and swallowed, sweeping some hair out of my face.

"Wow, really? That's a bit extreme, Han." Mina picked up one of the two oranges on her tray and started peeling it, while raising her eyebrow at me. "You'd do that to your own boyfriend?" I looked up from my tray at her, then glanced at Izuku.

I leaned over and wrapped myself around Izuku's arm, gently giving it a squeeze so I could feel the muscles hidden underneath. "Well... I wouldn't take his arm off. Probably just hit him upside the head." He smiled and laid a kiss on the top of my head, much to the glee of the girl across from us.

"Oooo, you guys! I can only handle so much adorableness!" She laughed and quietly clapped her hands, as small blushes appeared on our faces. I reached over and grabbed a muffin off my tray, raising it to my mouth to take a bite. At that point, I saw a girl walk into the cafeteria and I quickly recognized who it was.

"Hey, Shiro!"

She raised her head and looked around the room when she heard her name. I raised my hand and waved, which managed to grab her attention. She smiled and started making her way over, Mina scooting in to make room for her.

"Hey, guys!" She sat down and eagerly took the orange that Mina had offered her.

Izuku gave her a quick wave. "Hey, Kisaki! How's you first day going?"

Shiro had peeled her orange in record time and casually popped a slice into her mouth. "Well, I've had more exciting first days, but I'm pumped to finally be at UA."

Mina finished what was left of her orange juice, and pushed her tray off to the side. "I can imagine, and at one of the most exciting times of the year, too!"

"Yeah! I seriously can't wait to show off what I can do!"

I raised my head from my tray, having been finishing off the last of my rice. "Oh, you're going to participate in the Festival?"

She nodded excitedly and rested her arms on the table. "Yep. I talked to the principal when I got here this morning and he approved me to be in the Festival." My eyes widened in surprise. From what I heard, you needed to have been a student since the start of the year to be eligible for the Festival. She must've been able to hit the right buttons with the Principal.

"Wow, that's great, Shiro. What's your Quirk,anyway? I don't think you've told us yet." I saw Izuku start paying attention out of the corner of my eye, bringing a small smirk to my face.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. I won't tell you guys everything, because I have some tricks I'm still working on for the Festival." Everyone started paying attention to Shiro, eager to hear what she had to say.

"I call it Overclock, and it basically allows me to increase the processing power of almost anything that I want, including my muscles, electronics or even the Quirks of other people."

"Wow, that sounds amazing, Kisaki! With a Quirk like that, I'm sure there will be a ton of pro heroes who'll want you as their sidekick." I nodded in agreement, sure that Izuku had already memorized what she had told us.

"Heh, thanks Midoriya. But I'd have to get into the finals first."

Izuku scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "Oh, yeah. That's a good point."

Shiro smiled and motioned towards both Izuku and I. "What about you two? I've heard so much about you two from my classmates, you must have really awesome Quirks."

I held up my hand and activated my Quirk, her eyes lighting up when she saw the small licks of electricity surrounding my hand. "I can store electricity and put it through my muscles to enhance my speed and strength." I put my hand down and leaned forward to rest my elbows on the table. "I also passively generate and store electricity as I move, so I always have a supply I can draw from."

"Woah, that's so cool." She turned to Izuku. "What about you, Midoriya?" The boy froze and his face turned a slight shade of red. I could feel that he wasn't comfortable, and I grabbed his hand. He stopped and took a quick breath.

"I-I just have... s-super strength..." I glanced at Izuku out of the corner of my eye. _Super strength? What I saw back at the USJ definitely wasn't just super strength._ I made a mental note to ask him about it later.

Shiro looked at Izuku with a slightly confused look on her face. "Huh? That's it? Just super strength?"

"Y-Yeah, but I-I tend to hurt myself whenever I use it, so..."

"Oh, that's really unfortunate. You must be good with what you can do if everyone is talking about you."

She stopped and held her stomach in her hands. A small blush appeared on her cheeks and a laugh left her mouth. "Heh, I guess an orange wasn't enough to tide me over." She slid out of the booth and stretched quickly. "I'll see you guys later, I gotta get myself some food."

"Alright, see you later, Shiro!" We waved goodbye to her as she made her way over to the lunch line. I looked back at Mina, and quickly realized something.

"Wait, you two already know each other?"

She smiled and excitedly nodded. "Yep. I was the first person to say hi to her." I shook my head and gulped down the last of my water, not at all surprised.

"It's too bad she's not in our class. She seems like a really fun person to hang out with."

I pouted and put on the cutest voice I could muster. "Not as fun as me, right Deku-kun?"

His cheeks reddened and he started stuttering. "D-Definitely not! I-I didn't mean i-it like that, Hannah!" I started giggling and leaned over to plant a kiss on his nose. His face turned a deeper shade of red and I laid my head on his shoulder, smiling when I felt him wrap his arm around me.

"I know what you meant, Izuku."

 **VVV**

After lunch ended and Mina calmed down a little, we put away our trays near the door and started making our way back towards homeroom. Most classes were canceled due to the Festival being tomorrow, but the Hero courses still had Hero Basic Training in the afternoon. All Might had promised us that today wouldn't be too tough, but then again, it's All Might. Not too tough might mean nearly impossible for us.

Mina walked in front of us and turned around to walk backwards while facing us. "Soooo, how do you guys think you'll do tomorrow?"

Izuku put his hand on his chin and quickly thought about it. "Depends on what the first two challenges will be. It's random every year so no one can have an early advantage."

I nodded and hooked some hair behind my ear. "Yeah, we have to get through those before we can worry about the Finals."

Izuku grabbed my hand and looked at me. "I'm sure you'll be able to make it in, Hannah. Your Quirk is great for both mobility and fighting, so you'll be ready for anything" I smiled and felt a small blush cross my cheeks. I looked down at the ground to try and hide it.

"As for me, I'll probably be lucky just to make it to the Finals. I still don't have much control over my Quirk, so it'll be difficult for me to do much." I walked in front of him and stopped, grabbing his other hand.

"I don't think you'll have that much trouble. But... what if you were to have a partner to help out, just in case?"

He looked at me for a second before he realized what I was suggesting. "Uh, you wanna team up, Hannah?"

I smiled and nodded. "Think about it. We'll be able to show off what we can do, while also showing the pros how well we can work together as a team." Izuku put his hand on his chin again, although I had a feeling his mind was already made up. After a few seconds, he smiled and looked back at me.

"Of course I'll team with you, Hannah." He pulled me close to him and gently pressed his lips to mine. I happily reciprocated, noticing Mina turn away to give us our privacy. We broke apart a few seconds later and made our way over toward homeroom, having stopped a ways down the hall.

I could already hear yelling from behind the door, and I slid it open to reveal Bakugo and Tenya in the middle of an argument. Eijiro and Ochako were trying to get everyone calmed down and Mina made her way past us to see if she could help.

"STAY OUT OF THIS, PINKY!"

I shook my head in annoyance as Izuku and I quietly slid past them, managing to get into our seats just as All Might made his grand entrance.

"I. AM. HERE!" The Symbol of Peace essentially flew into the room, his cape fluttering in the breeze. His smile didn't drop as he laid his eyes on Bakugo, who was still trying to antagonize Tenya as everyone made their way over to their seats.

"Now, now, Young Bakugo. Calm down and take your seat. The quicker we get the class started, the sooner it'll be over, and the sooner you'll be able to start preparing for the Festival tomorrow." The boy grunted as he lazily made his way back to his desk.

"Now, who's ready... for a lecture?!"


	21. First Game of the Festival

A yawn forced its way from my mouth as I sat by Izuku's side. The boy looked over and gave me a smile, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me closer. The heat from his body combined and mixed with my own tiredness and brought me dangerously close to falling asleep on his shoulder.

We were sat waiting in Class 1-A's designated waiting room for the last of our class to arrive, having been half an hour early. The room itself was fairly sparse with only a few benches and lockers lining the walls. A few tables had been set up in the middle of the room, along with some folding chairs around each of them.

For the sake of fairness, no one was allowed to wear their hero costume during the Festival. The teachers instructed us to change into our P.E. uniforms and wait in here until everyone showed up. I was a little upset at not being able to use my gauntlets, but then again, the school probably didn't want it's students hurting each other.

The room quickly filled up with our classmates, everyone off in their own groups as if we were still in class. I glanced over towards the door and spotted Mina and Yumi walk in while in the middle of an animated conversation, but the two made their way over when Mina saw us sitting together.

"Look who it is! The cutest couple in all of UA!" The pink girl giggled as Izuku and I's cheeks shone identical shades of red. The two girls pulled up a couple chairs and sat across from us.

Yumi looked at me and chuckled softly. "You look rather wiped out, Han. What's up?" I lazily raised my head off of Izuku's shoulder and rested it in my hands.

"I just couldn't get to sleep last night." Another yawn left me, as if to emphasize my current state. "I'll be fine, I just need to wake up a little more."

Yumi grunted in acknowledgement and sighed. "In that case, you better hurry. Looks like everyone is here. Except Iida, the slacker."

Izuku looked around the room for a second. "Actually, I don't see Uraraka, either. Where could they be?" He glanced down at his watch. "We're supposed to be heading out in a few minutes."

At that moment, the door opened and Ochako walked through, closely followed by Tenya. I'm not sure what had happened, but the brown-haired girl's cheeks were noticeably redder than usual. She stood next to the class rep as he let out a piercing whistle, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Everyone, get your game faces on! We'll be entering the arena soon!" Izuku got up and quickly stretched, letting out a satisfied groan as he did. He offered me his hand, and I gladly took it, getting up and pushing my chair in towards the table.

As Yumi and Mina did the same, I noticed a boy with short red and white hair make his way over to Izuku and I. He had what looked like a scar over the left side of his face, and his eyes appeared to be two different colors, although I didn't want to look too hard, in case he caught me staring. I had noticed him in class a couple times, but he mostly just kept to himself. And although I had wanted to, I never got around to asking for his name, let alone if I could call him by his first name.

"Midoriya." Izuku looked over towards him,

"Hey, Todoroki. What's up?" Everyone in the room has started paying attention to the two boys.

"From an objective standpoint, I think it's fairly clear that I'm stronger than you." The boy next to me sheepishly nodded, letting Todoroki continue. "However, you've got All Might in your corner, helping you out. I'm not here to pry about what's going on between you two. But know that I will beat you." His face betrayed nothing as the two boys stared each other down, before Todoroki turned to walk out the door.

"Wait a sec, Todoroki." Izuku stood and thought for a second. "I don't know what's going through your head or why you think you'd need to tell me that you'll beat me. And, yeah, of course you're better than me. In fact, you probably have way more potential than anyone in the hero course. That's why you got in so easily." He looked around at the rest of the class, who had all tuned into the conversation.

"We're all going to have to fight to stand out. So, I'll be aiming for the top, too."

"Oh, would you shut the fuck up, you damn nerd!?" Bakugo slammed his hands to the table and stood up, sending his chair skidding across the floor. "Stupid Deku. You talk about 'aiming for the top'. You shouldn't even be here!"

"You know that's not true, Bakugo." I stood in between them, my grogginess forgotten and replaced by my steadily rising temper. "Izuku has worked harder than anyone else at UA just to get to where he is today. If anything, he fully deserves to be here."

"Oh, you think so, Energizer Bunny?" I growled quietly as he took a couple steps towards us. Izuku grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze, trying to help defuse the situation before it got out of control.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I'm still going to beat you all..." Bakugo then looked directly at Izuku and I and snarled. "... Including you, Deku. And your pathetic excuse of a girlfriend."

The response was immediate. My hand whipped through the air, and connected with Bakugo's cheek with a loud smack. I heard a few gasps from the crowd around us, and Izuku immediately grabbed my arm.

Bakugo reeled back in pain and held the side of his face, cursing madly. "You bitch! I'm gonna fucking kill you!" He took a few steps towards me before Eijiro and Denki stepped in front of him and held him back.

"Calm down, Bakugo! You did kind of ask for it!"

"SHUT UP! LET GO OF ME!"

"Not unless you want to get kicked out of the Festival for fighting, man!" The boy growled in anger and spun on his heels, stuffing his hands into his pockets before walking off towards the other side of the room.

"Hannah?" Izuku's voice brought me back to reality and I looked at him, realizing only now what I had just done.

"I'm sorry, Izuku. I know you two are friends. I just-"

"No, you don't have to apologize. What Kacchan said was out of line." He looked past me over at the blonde boy, silently steaming over by a window. "I'll try to talk to him after the Festival, okay?" He looked back at me and gave me a smile, before bringing me into a hug that I eagerly accepted. We shared a brief kiss, much to the delight of some of our our classmates, before the sound of Present Mic's voice rang through the entire building.

"Hey! Make some noise, all you rabid sports fans! Get those cameras prepped, media hordes! This year we're bringing you some of the hottest performances in Sports Festival history, guaranteed! I've only got one question before we start this show: Are you ready?!"

Izuku turned to the rest of the class, a determined look on his face. "Well, everyone, it's time." He received almost unanimous head nods, and after Bakugo begrudgingly made his way over, the whole of Class 1-A stepped out into the hallway towards the cameras and bright lights of the arena.

VVVVV

As we stepped out of the tunnel and onto the grass of the arena, my anxiety started skyrocketing. It was finally starting to sink in that I was about to compete in the UA Sports Festival. There had to have been hundreds of thousands of people in the stadium, all of them cheering as Present Mic introduced us to the world.

"This first group are no strangers to the spotlight! You know them for withstanding a villain attack- the dazzling students lighting up your TVs with solid-gold skills. The hero course students of Class 1-A!" I shook my head and forced myself to take as deep a breath as I could, then looked over at Izuku, who looked like he was about to have a small panic attack.

Before I could think about comforting him, he reached over and found my hand. He looked over at me, a light blush on his cheeks and a nervous smile on his face. I shot a smile back at him and nodded to him, giving his hand a squeeze. He took a breath and nodded back to me, a sparkle in his eyes telling me that he was ready now.

Our class stopped on a large square of concrete, taking up a majority of the middle of the open area. In front of us stood a small, raised platform, with a single microphone set up towards the left side. I got the feeling I had forgotten about something, but Present Mic's voice rang out through the stadium again and interrupted my thoughts.

"They haven't been getting nearly as much screen time, but this next group is still chock full of talent! Welcome hero course Class 1-B!"

Class 1-B! I almost forgot about Shiro! She was so excited about being able to be in the Festival yesterday. I glanced quickly over towards our neighbors as they made their way out of the tunnel to try and catch a glimpse of the white-haired girl, but I couldn't see any sign of her.

I tapped Izuku on the shoulder as the other classes were announced and came out. "Hey, do you see Shiro anywhere? She's not with her class." He looked over towards where 1-B had gathered, his eyes searching through the growing crowd.

He shook his head after a few seconds. "No, I don't think she's here. I hope everything is alright, she was really looking forward to being able to be in the Festival in the first place." I nodded, growing concerned with her absence, but before I could linger on it much longer, the pro hero Midnight made her way up onto stage and raised her signature whip into the air.

"Now, the introductory speech!" I heard most of the boys behind us start muttering to themselves, as the R-Rated Hero's costume didn't leave much to the imagination.

"Silence, everyone! For the student pledge, we have Katsuki Bakugo!" A cloud of shocked silence rolled in over us as the aforementioned boy disinterestedly made his way through the crowd and up the stairs, stopping in front of the microphone. The entire stadium went quiet in anticipation of what he had to say.

"I just wanna say I'm gonna win."

I shook my head and saw Izuku and a few of our classmates immediately facepalm. Boos and jeers were tossed at us by the other classes, as well as most of the crowd, as Bakugo walked down the stairs and back into the crowd. He walked by Izuku and I, making it a point to bump into both of us on his way by.

As the crowd started settling down, a screen appeared behind Midnight with the words 'First Game' displayed. The pro hero walked to the edge of the stage and rested her whip on her shoulder.

"Without further ado, it's time for us to get started! This is where you begin feeling the pain! The first fateful game of the Festival!" She waved her whip above her head, and the screen started rotating through all the different options, like a giant slot machine.

After a few seconds, the screen stopped on an event. What looked like a yellow man running around cone, along with the words 'Obstacle Race'. Okay, that sounded easy enough, we used to do these all the time back in middle school. Although, I keep forgetting that this is UA. There were bound to be plenty of nasty surprises in store.

"All eleven classes will participate in this treacherous contest. The track is four kilometers around the outside of the stadium." She again raised her whip, but she looked down at us and licked her lips. "I don't wanna restrain anyone, at least in this game. As long as you don't leave the course, you're free to do whatever your heart desires!

"Now then, take your places, contestants." She motioned over towards a distinctive red gate in the wall of the arena to our left. Above the gate were three lights, none of which were lit, however. Through the tunnel was a dirt path, presumably the rest of the obstacle course. I couldn't see any further beyond that, so I was completely in the dark about what we'd find.

"Hannah, what's the plan?" I looked over at Izuku as he tightened the laces on his shoes. I thought about it for a second and shrugged as he stood back up.

"Get through the tunnel in one piece and go from there. Afterwards, we'll probably have to think things up on the fly."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. And do you see how narrow the tunnel is?"

I nodded and looked at him. "Everyone's probably going to try and get through all at the same time."

It was his turn to nod. "I think it may be best if we hang back and see what happens."

"That is probably the best idea." We looked at each other, light blushes and smiles quickly crossing our faces. I hadn't realized how in sync our minds had become over the past month. We've been with each other so much in that time, I guess it was bound to happen eventually.

Midnight's voice ringing out through the arena brought us back to reality. "Alright, contestants. Are you ready?" As she spoke, the lights above the gate lit up green. Izuku and I set our footing, along with everyone else, and an eerie silence filled the air as even the crowd went silent.

The final light lit up and a buzzer sounded, signaling the start of the race. Everyone rushed into the tunnel trying to be one of the first to get through. Izuku and I tried to stay near the back of the group, but we were both getting shoved and bumped by other students. If our hands weren't gripped together as tightly as they were, we would've been lost in the current.

Eventually, Izuku must've realized our plan wasn't really working. He started picking his way through the crowd, pulling me along with him. We worked our way towards the front of the group and managed to emerge out on the other side of the tunnel, surrounded by students.

Izuku craned forward to look up ahead and glanced over at me. "I think there's still about 50 people in front of us. Come on, we need to hurry!" I nodded and matched his speed as we quickly made up ground on the others ahead.

However, a chill ran through the air and the people in front of us suddenly stopped. A glaze of ice raced along the ground towards us. There wasn't enough time to stop, so I did the only thing I could do.

"Izuku! Jump!"

"Right!" We launched ourselves into the air, watching as the ice rushed underneath us, continuing on to trap the other students just behind us. I landed back on the ground and my feet immediately slipped out from underneath me. Izuku tried to stop and catch me, but he kept sliding and almost lost his own balance.

Managing to twist around in the air, I put out my hands to break the fall. But when my weight settled on them, they slipped out from under me, causing me to faceplant into the icy ground. Pain shot through my mouth and cheek, and the metallic taste of blood covered my tongue.

"Hannah! Are you okay?!" Izuku carefully made his way back over to me, helping me sit up.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I spit out some blood and looked at him. "I think I just busted my lip." He gently helped me up, being careful not to slip and bring me down with him. I gave him a smile, a dull ache in my bottom lip making its presence known, as we slowly made our way off the ice.

"Todoroki must be up ahead. I don't know anyone else who can control ice like that." We stepped off the ice and back onto the dirt path. Izuku put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me again with concern. "Are you sure you're okay? You're still bleeding."

I wiped some blood away from the corner of my mouth and gave him a nod. "Izuku, I'm fine. Come on, we're falling behind." He followed me as we increased our pace, heading up a small hill that the path curved over. There were a few male students ahead of us who had passed us when I slipped.

We were already starting to catch up to them when a robot emerged from the treeline and slammed it's arm into one of the boys, sending him flying through the bushes on the other side of the path. We slid to a stop as the robot took aim at them.

"It's one of the robots from the entrance exam!" I looked ahead of us and saw that the rest of the students were stopped ahead of a large clearing. I looked past them and my breath caught in my throat.

"Not only that, Izuku!" I grabbed his arm and pointed out in front of us. "Look up there! Aren't those the zero-point robots?!" He looked out towards were I was pointing. Several large robots, easily higher than most of the buildings in the city, blocked the way forward.

"Yeah... Do they expect us to get past them...?" As he spoke, one of the large robots was encased in ice, before toppling over towards the group. I assumed that it must've been Todoroki again.

I shook my head quickly. "I don't know. But either way, we need to get by. Come on!" He nodded and followed as I charged my legs, and delivered a straight kick to the small robot that had been holding off the group of boys. It had tried to block the attack with its arm, but instead had it ripped off by the force of the attack.

Izuku deftly dodged a punch from another robot, before picking up a piece of the robot Todoroki froze off the ground, the robot behind him in hot pursuit. But before I could think about turning and dealing with it, Izuku pivoted on his foot and swung the piece of robot around, taking off the pursuing robot's arm and rendering it useless. He tucked the piece under his arm as we approached the rest of the group who was still staring in awe at the hulking robots in front of them.

"Izuku, keep running!" We started picking our way through the crowd. "I'll cover you if any of them go for you!"

"Got it! Be careful, Hannah!"

"I always am!" We emerged from the crowd at full sprint, a few of the students yelling at us to stop. I dropped back behind Izuku to keep watch of the robots, and be ready if one of them made a move. My eyes from one to another as we got closer, before I saw the movement I had been looking for.

The robot closest to our left moved to block us, cutting off the exit. I leapt forward and gently tugged on Izuku's shoulder, pulling him back as I took point in front of him. I heard him stop running behind me, and I put all of my focus on the robot as it made its attack.

I sent charge into my arms and back in preparation as the robot swung it's arm towards me. Planting my left foot in the ground, I used the momentum I had built to bring my right arm forward, simultaneously sending the charge in my left arm over into my right to give me an extra boost.

"SMAAAAAASSSSSHHHH!"

I made contact, pain immediately shooting through my entire arm, and my hand going completely numb. The robot's arm flew back from the force of my attack, shedding pieces and eventually flying off, landing a ways down the path. The ground shook as the robot itself spun and crashed to the ground, destroying the barrier separating the path from the forest.

I clenched my eyes together and fell to a knee, holding my arm and hand to my chest. A tear fell from my eye as I tried not to let anyone see how much pain I was in. I knew my hand was broken, at least, and I mentally chastised myself for not even thinking about holding back. Now, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to participate in the Festival anymore.

"Hannah!" I turned to see Izuku quickly making his way over. The other giant robots were preoccupied with the students, who had started making their own attempts to get by. The boy knelt down next to me, the concern on his face evident to anyone around. "Hannah, are you alright?"

I shook my head and gasped quietly as a fresh wave of pain racked through my hand and arm. "No. I think my hand is broken." He let out an audible sigh filled with worry and looked down at my hand, which had started throbbing painfully and was turning an angry red and blue color.

He grabbed my good hand and helped me to my feet, looking behind us to check the progress of the other students. The ground shook as explosions rang out and a few of the robots fell to the ground, their pieces littering the area behind and around us.

"Do you think you can make it to the end of the race?" I nodded and gave him a small smile.

"Definitely. If there aren't any more robots, anyway." I winced as another spasm ran through my arm. "Besides, Izuku. You know me." I took a breath and looked over at him, grinning through the pain.

"I'm tougher than I look." He searched my eyes for any sign of hesitation, but once he saw I was dead set on continuing, he smiled and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"Alright, let's get going."

VVVVV

Izuku and I quickly made our way down the path, trying to make up time that we had lost while he was checking on me. Todoroki was able to get even farther ahead and Bakugo had blasted his way past shortly after we got going again.

I hugged my hand up against my chest as we ran, every step sending another small jolt of pain up through my arm. I knew I was still hopped up on adrenaline from earlier, and I hoped that it wouldn't wear off until at least after the race. If my hand and arm were hurting this much now, I didn't want to imagine how bad it would be after it wore off.

We turned a corner and a large fissure in the ground appeared ahead of us. Stone pillars rose up from below, and it looked like each one was connected to the other with tightropes or planks. Todoroki was sliding across the tightropes using his ice, while Bakugo casually blasted his way over, bringing him to within arms reach of the other boy.

Present Mic's voice rang out from the stadium, noticeably quieter but still easily understandable. "For those of you who thought the first obstacle was easy, let's see how ya feel about the second one! If our contestants take a spill, they're out! If they wanna pass this test, they'll have to get creative. It's "The Fall"!"

Izuku and I stopped near the edge of the cliff, my curiosity carrying me closer to look down into the abyss. I immediately regretted doing so, as the drop to the bottom caused me to start feeling dizzy and back away into the arms of the green-haired boy behind me.

"How are we gonna get past this?"

"I don't know..." I looked out ahead of us, my eyes bouncing between the different pillars, and then out towards the two boys on the other side who were quickly disappearing behind the treeline. An idea began forming in my head and I glanced over at Izuku.

"How would you feel if we jumped over?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I can charge my legs enough to get us both over in just a couple of jumps... assuming I don't overshoot." I could almost hearing him mulling the idea over in his head. From behind us, Tsuyu leapt far ahead of us and landing on one of the tightropes, the frog-girl's Quirk making the crossing look unfairly easy.

"Are you sure, Hannah? You're already hurt pretty badly."

"Izuku, do you have a better idea?" After a few seconds, the boy nodded and looked at me.

"Let's do it."

We took a few steps back as more students started catching up. He wrapped his right arm around my shoulders, and I hooked my left arm around his back and under his other arm, noting that he was still holding on to that piece of robot he had picked up. We made sure we had a good grip on the other, before we looked at each other and nodded.

Our legs and feet moving together, we started building up momentum while I focused charge into my legs. Familiar blue electricity sparked through the air as we neared the edge of the cliff, before I launched us into the air, Izuku helping out as much as he could.

We quickly flew through the air and landed on a pillar in the middle of the fissure, harder than I thought we would. The jolt sent a fresh wave of pain through my arm, forcing a small cry from my throat. I fell forward and rested my head on the ground for second.

"Hannah?"

"I'm fine. One more." He nodded and we backed up to the edge of the pillar. We waited so I could built up more charge, before surging forward and leaping off the other side. I made sure to aim us farther out so that we could land softer, and so that we wouldn't break our legs on impact.

A cloud of dust rose behind us as we landed on the other side of the gorge with a good amount of speed. Izuku and I slid to a stop, both of us trying not to lose our balance and take the other down with us. I unwrapped myself from him and crouched down, taking deep breaths to try and cool myself down. Izuku gently put his hand on my back, as Present Mic's voice rung out through the area.

"And now, we're finally approaching the last obstacle. Everyone had better tread carefully. You're stepping onto a minefield!" Izuku and I quickly looked up ahead and then at each other. _A minefield?! How could that be safe in any way?_

"Someone's already made it to the final obstacle?"

"Must be either Todoroki or Bakugo. They're the only two ahead of us." He nodded and grunted in agreement, before the pro hero spoke again.

"If you look carefully, you can see where those little bombs are buried, so keep your eyes on the ground, folks." He paused for a quick second. "By the way, those land mines were designed for the games, so they might be loud and flashy, but they're not all that powerful. Just enough to make you wet your pants!"

"Oh, that's good!" Izuku breathed a small sigh of relief as I stood back up, hugging my hurting hand and arm tightly to me. "What do you say, Izuku? Shall we go give them a run for their money?"

The green-haired boy grinned at me and nodded, tucking the piece of robot he's been carrying his arm. "Let's do it."

VVVVV

"Just like that, a new student takes the lead! The rest of the competitors are catching up, too! Can our two leaders fight each other and stay in front of the competition?" Present Mic's voice carried out from the stadium as Izuku and I approached the aforementioned minefield, a large dirt clearing in the trees. Small circular patches of darker dirt marked where the bombs themselves were hidden, but they were closely packed together, so we would need to go slow to avoid being blown up.

Todoroki and Bakugo were just ahead of us, about halfway through the minefield. It looked like they were trying to fight each other while avoiding the mines, which gave Izuku and I at least a small chance to catch up. I prepared to start charging my legs, but Izuku put his hand on my shoulder.

"Hannah, save your strength. You'll need it if we make it into the next round, whatever it might be." He stepped past me and put his hand on his chin, looking out over the minefield, trying to think of a way to catch the two boys ahead.

"Alright, these land mines will go off if you step on them. They're not that powerful by themselves... but they can turn into a huge pain if you detonate a bunch of them."

He nodded to himself and looked behind us. "No one's going to be able to go through this very quickly. We can use that to our advantage." He dug the piece of robot into the ground, digging up one of the mines. "There's plenty of land mines buried here. If we can gather enough, we should be able to blast our way to the front."

Apprehension started filling me as I bent down to help him dig up more mines. "Izuku, are you sure about this?"

He shook his head and gave a nervous chuckle as he carefully put down another mine. ""Not exactly, but I couldn't think of anything else." We put down a couple more mines before he stepped back and looked at the pile we had made.

"I think that should be good." He looked over at me as I started cradling my red and blue hand close to my chest, my eyes clenched as I fought through new waves of pain. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and I was definitely starting to feel how hurt I actually was. The boy stepped towards me, sweeping some hair out of my face and laying a quick kiss on my forehead.

"How well do you think you can hold on?"

"I-I should be able to." He brought me in for a hug, being careful to avoid my hand.

"If I remember correctly from past years, if there are any injured students, there's usually a 15-minute break so they can head to Recovery Girl's office. We'll head over as soon as we can, okay?" His voice was soft and caring. I smiled and nodded as he bent down to grab the piece of robot he'd been carrying, wrapping a few wires that were coming out the side around his hands. He looked back at me and nodded as I walked behind him and wrapped my good arm around his neck, making sure that I wasn't choking him.

"Alright. Ready?" I adjusted myself quickly so that my arm wouldn't be squished against his back and nodded.

"Ready."

"Alright, here we go..." We took a small running start, before Izuku dropped us onto the pile of mines shield-first. The air rushed by us as we quickly rose up and out of the massive pink cloud of smoke created by the combined force of the mines. I made the mistake of looking down at the down, seeing how high we were causing me to grip on tighter to Izuku.

"Incredible! Whatever just caused that massive explosion, Class 1-A's Izuku Midoriya and Hannah Sato are suddenly in hot pursuit of first place!" I could just barely hear Present Mic over the sound of the wind passing by my ears, the pro hero sounding like he was jumping out of his seat.

As we flew over the two other boys, I vaguely heard Bakugo roar in anger, bringing a small smirk to my face. He probably didn't think I, or even Izuku, would be a threat.

However, we quickly started falling out of air, the ground rushing up to meet us. Todoroki and Bakugo had started catching back up to us, as well, Bakugo blasting himself through the air and Todoroki having created an ice path over the mines. Izuku looked back ahead and shouted over the wind rushing by to try and grab my attention.

"Hannah, I have an idea! Use the shield to launch yourself ahead!"

"What?! Why?!"

"Todoroki and Kacchan are catching us! The only way to stay ahead is to take another leap!" He tilted us forward and grabbed the bottom of our shield, forcing me to readjust myself in the air so that my feet were against it. I sent what charge I had left into my legs and pushed off, launching myself ahead of the boys.

I managed to completely clear the rest of the minefield, my feet finally finding the dirt path after a few seconds in the air. The impact with the ground sent another wave of pain through my arm, but with the finish line in sight, I gritted my teeth and keep moving forward.

There was suddenly another explosion behind me, the wind from it rushing by and blowing some of my hair into my face. I looked behind me and saw Izuku flying through the air towards me. Todoroki and Bakugo were engulfed in a pink cloud, but I quickly saw them emerge from it and give chase.

I heard Bakugo roar in anger. "What the hell do you two think you're doing, huh?!"

Izuku landed just behind me, rolling forward before finding his footing. "Keep running, Hannah! We're almost there!" We made our way into the tunnel coming back into the stadium, and I could hear the two behind us gaining, the chill from Todoroki's ice and the heat from Bakugo's explosions getting more intense.

The cheering of the crowd was ringing in my ears and through the tunnel, pushing me forward, as Izuku brought himself up alongside me. I prepared to cross the line with him, but then I felt a hand in my hair, grabbing a handful and wrenching my head back. A small cry of pain left my mouth and Bakugo slipped by as we crossed the line, Present Mic excitedly announcing the finish.

"Who would have imagined at the beginning of this race that the climax would be a non-stop mega-mix of surprises?! The first to make it back to the stadium is...

"Izuku Midoriya!"

The crowd exploded as the boy came to a stop and put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. I dropped to my knees next to him as confetti started raining from the sky, vaguely hearing my name called out over the PA by Present Mic. I shot a deadly glare over towards Bakugo

Midnight made her way back up on stage, whip in hand as always. "The first game for the first-years is finally over, and what a game it was! Now, let's take a quick look at the standings, shall we?" Another screen appeared behind her, quickly scrolling through the first 42 students to finish the obstacle course. Izuku was obviously first, but Bakugo had snatched away second from me at the line. I ended up third and Todoroki fourth.

"Unfortunately, it does appear that a few students sustained injuries during the course of the game." I felt her look over in my direction, as I cradled my hand against my chest and Izuku had his arm wrapped around my shoulders.

"As such, there will be a 15 minute break where any injured student may go see our wonderful school nurse, Recovery Girl. For those watching live or at home, this would be a good time to restock on snacks or use the restroom before we continue with the second game."

VVVVV

Meanwhile, the eyes of a young man, not much older the students he was sat watching, followed two students as they made their way towards the nurse's office. He got up from his seat amongst the crowd and quickly made his way towards one of the many bathrooms in the stadium. The place was truly amazing, and he remembered at one point in his life, he wanted to compete in this very stadium while going to this very school.

But he guessed fate must've had different plans for him earlier in life. And he wasn't here to just be a spectator.

He reached the closest bathroom and pushed open the door, casually closing and locking it. Reaching into one of the pockets in his favorite navy blue hoodie, he pulled out an old flip phone and masterfully typed in a number, before holding it to his ear. The dial tone rang for a few seconds, before the user on the other end picked up.

"I'm guessing you're watching the television broadcast?"

"We are indeed, Yasutake. It seems the girl was telling the truth."

"Of course she was. You're holding her mother hostage. She wouldn't willingly do anything that would bring harm to her."

"Hmm, I suppose you're right." The sound of papers being moved could be heard in the background. "The information we received from her seems to be mostly correct. The Sato girl has a rather powerful electrical enhancement Quirk, handy in most situations. The boy, however..."

Long, black hair bounced between sharp, blue eyes as Yasutake shifted in slight impatience. "Midoriya hasn't used his Quirk yet. But, if the rumors are to be believed, he is All Might's protege. It's within logic he may still have something to show."

"You raise another good point." There was a brief pause on the other end. "As much as Tomura wants to move in, we can't risk making that move at this time. Not with all the pro heroes in attendance, and not while we're still so shorthanded."

"So, what's the call? Wait and see what happens?"

"For the time being, yes. Continue to observe Sato and Midoriya. Do not attempt to capture them. Am I understood?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Good. Enjoy the rest of the festival." The call ended suddenly, and Yasutake stuffed the phone back into his pocket. He went over and unlocked the door, calmly stepping through and letting it close on it's own. Retracing his steps, he quickly made his way back to his seat, and retreated into his mind to wait for the second game to start.


	22. Second Game of the Festival

Izuku and I quickly made our way through the halls of the stadium towards Recovery Girl's office, the buzzing of the crowd growing fainter as we did. Not many other students followed us, so I figured I had been the only one stupid enough to get themselves hurt in just the first game. I laid my head on his shoulder, and enjoyed the feeling of his green locks tickling my forehead as we walked, which contrasted strongly with the pain coming from my hand.

I felt him wrap his arm around my waist as we approached the door to the pro hero's office, open as it always was back at UA. We walked in as the elderly nurse was finishing up some paperwork, setting it aside and turning in her chair when she heard us come in.

"Ah, Midoriya. You're not hurt?"

Izuku shook his head quickly, and nodded towards me. "No, Ma'am. It's Hannah, we think she broke her hand."

"I'd be surprised if it was just that, judging from the footage and how it looks now." She hopped down off her chair and came over, gently taking hold of my arm as she quickly tried to diagnose my injuries. I winced as another wave of pain assaulted my senses briefly, before she extended her lips and planted a kiss onto my wrist.

The pain immediately dulled and quickly disappeared as her Quirk went to work, repairing whatever damage I had done to my arm in only a few seconds. The previous angry red and blue coloring was replaced with a more healthy pink and I soon regained the feeling in my hand. A greenish aura that had appeared around my arm disappeared and I was soon able to move my hand and arm around without any pain.

"You managed to break two fingers, your hand and wrist, and fracture your arm in one attack, sweetie. Please, be more careful next time." She walked back to her desk and opened a drawer, leaving me in a state of stunned silence. Did I really hurt myself that badly? I knew I had broken my hand, but my fingers, wrist and arm, as well?

Then again... I did punch solid metal, so I guess I couldn't be all that surprised.

"I healed you enough so that you can move, but you won't be fully healed for another day or two." She reached into the drawer and produced a tightly wrapped white bandage, walking back over to us. "So, you'll need to wear these for at least the rest of the day."

Izuku gently held my left hand as Recovery Girl started wrapping the bandage around my right hand and arm. I looked over at him and smiled, blushing lightly when the boy reached over to move some hair out of my face. He smiled back and leaned in to lay a quick kiss on my nose, causing my light blush to darken and spread across my face, him giggling at my reaction. I guess I knew now how it felt when I did it to him.

"Alright, that should do it." The nurse licked the free end of the bandage and gently pressed it down, securing it so that it wouldn't come off too readily. "Looks like I'll have to get more bandages, hopefully there's more in storage. How does it feel?"

I nodded my head as I waved my arm around, feeling out the bandages now comfortably wrapped around my hand and up to my elbow. "It's perfect, actually. Almost like it isn't even there."

She nodded and hopped back up into her chair. "I know it's the Sports Festival, but I recommend you try and not put too much strain on your arm. Not until it's fully healed, at least. Otherwise, you could get hurt again."

"Alright, thanks for the warning, Recovery Girl. I'll try my best." I gave her a polite bow before turning to Izuku, who was patiently standing next to the door waiting for me. He shot me a smile and offered his hand, mine quickly taking its place in his. Our lips came together in a brief meeting before we made our way through the door and down the hall to regroup with the others in the arena.

 **VVVVV**

"Are you alright, Hannah?! We saw you and Midoriya head off when Midnight announced the break for injuries!"

"Yeah, I'm fine..."

"What happened to your arm?"

"I just punched one of those giant robots a little too hard..."

"You should've been more careful, Hannah. It was only the first game."

Mina, Ochako and Tsu had rushed me as soon as Izuku and I rejoined the group. Questions bounced off of me faster than I could answer them, overwhelming me briefly before I regained my composure and raised my voice over them.

"Guys! I'm fine, really. I just... hurt myself a little bit. It wasn't anything Recovery Girl couldn't fix."

"That's good, I guess." Tsu tipped her finger against her mouth. "It would be a shame if you had to pull out of the Festival this early."

Mina nodded with her usual excitement. "Yeah, that would suck! Especially with how much training you and Midoriya had been doing."

I looked over at Mina and raised my eyebrow at her. "How did you know about that? I don't remember telling anyone Izuku and I were training."

"Oh, Midoriya told me about it last week. Said he beat you for the first time." I glanced over at Izuku, who was now sporting a light blush as he looked off in the other direction, trying to look innocent. I gave him a playful smack to the chest, eliciting a small grunt from the boy and laughs from Mina and Ochako.

"Silence, contestants!"

We were interrupted by the return of the Rated-R Hero, Midnight. She stepped back up onto the stage, her stern words silencing the group of students beneath her. A small smirk adorned her face as she dramatically cracked her whip at her side and stood at attention.

"Now that our injured students have been taken care of, the real fun is about to begin. The chance to fully move yourselves into the limelight! Give it your best!"

Another screen appeared behind her, which immediately started cycling through all the different events. "Let's see what we have in store for you next. Will your wildest fantasies come to life? What could it be? The waiting is torture.

"Prepare yourselves... for this!" She waved her hand towards the screen, stopping the cycle on a new event. The Cavalry Battle.

Confusion filled me as I looked up at the screen and the others around me started mumbling amongst themselves. We had never done cavalry battles in America, but I knew enough from scouring the internet that they were usually just children's games. I wondered briefly about how UA's version would work, before Midnight spoke up again.

"Allow me to explain. The participants will form teams of two-to-four people as they see fit. In theory, it's basically the same as a regular playground game. But there is one difference.

"Each player has been assigned a point value based on the results from the obstacle course. The point assignments go up by increments of five, starting from the bottom. For example, 42nd place is worth five points, and 41st is worth ten.

"And the point value assigned to the first place contestant is... ten million!"

Silence filled the arena, and I felt every single pair of eyes shift over towards Izuku, who now had what was essentially a bounty on his head. The boy started squeezing my hand harder, and I could feel how sweaty his hand had become.

"That's right. It's survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top!" Midnight cracked her whip, strikingly contrasting with the silence already permeating through the arena.

"First years! These are the rules that' you'll abide by: The game itself will last 15 minutes. Individual point values will be added together to reach your team total. Everyone will know how much you're worth thanks to your headbands.

"Swipe as many headbands as you can to raise your team's score. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up. So the more you steal, the harder it'll be to manage them.

"And another thing- Even if you headband gets stolen or your team falls down, you can keep playing until time's up.

"This is going to be rough. You may use your Quirks as much as you like. But there are still rules! Make a team fall on purpose and I'll slap you with a red card. You'll be disqualified!

"Now, you've got fifteen minutes to build your teams. I recommend you get started." As she finished speaking, a timer appeared on the screen and started counting down. Everyone quickly started searching for teammates, a buzz of activity suddenly surrounding Izuku and I. I saw Mina make her way over towards Bakugo, while Kyoka was over talking with

"Hannah?" Izuku's voice and a gentle squeeze of my hand caused me to look over at him. "I'll understand if you don't want to team with me anymore. Everyone'll be after me and my ten million stupid points."

"Izuku..." He looked up from the ground at me, getting caught off guard as my lips met his briefly. I felt his cheeks warm up as I broke away and looked him in the eyes. "I'm staying."

"A-Are you sure?! Everyone will be gunning for us, and-"

"Izuku, I know. I'm staying with you." I gave him a grin as he stood looking at me for a few seconds, before his shoulders dropped and a relieved smile crossed his face. He must've been stressing to himself whether or not I'd still want to team with him, now that I knew how much he was worth.

We've always been a team. Why would that stop now?

I smiled back at him and grabbed his hand. "Come on, we still need to find some more teammates." He nodded and followed me through the crowd, keeping on the lookout for anyone who didn't appear to already have a team. We had been searching for a few minutes before Izuku tapped my shoulder and pointed over to a rather lost looking Ochako.

He raised his hand and waved at her, trying to grab her attention. "Uraraka!" She quickly started looking around at the mention of her name, before catching sight of Izuku's waving hand and making her way over to us through the crowd.

"Hey guys! I was looking for you!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah! I wanted to team up with Tenya, but he went over to join Todoroki's team. I knew you guys would probably stick together, so I came looking hoping you would want to team up."

"Of course we would! With your Quirk, it should make it easier to move around and avoid the other teams! Hannah could be in the front..." He started mumbling to himself, causing Ochako to stop and look at me with slight concern. I waved her off and tapped Izuku on the shoulder, causing him to jump slightly.

"Are you done?"

He looked at me and scratched the back of his head, blushing lightly. "Heh, sorry." I chuckled at him and playfully ruffled his hair, bringing a mild blush to his cheeks.

"Also..." I turned to the girl beside us. "...Since when have you and Tenya been on a first name basis, Ochako?" The girl's eyes widened and her cheeks quickly shone nearly the same color as Izuku's shoes. She slapped her hands to her face, quickly looking away from us.

"U-Uh, hey! T-There's only a few minutes left before the game starts! W-Why don't we try and find another teammate?!"

"No need! A teammate is here!" We all turned to look behind us, jet black hair catching the eye as Yumi made her way over. Annoyance showed on her face as she neared, which caused Izuku to question her.

"Is something bothering you, Yumi?"

She stopped next to Ochako and casually crossed her arms across her chest. "Eh, some guy from 1-B got in my face about how 'Class 1-A must think they're so much better than everyone else'. I didn't want to get into a fight, so I just walked away. Anyway, I heard you guys need another teammate?"

"Um, yeah. But Yumi..." Izuku stopped for a second, probably trying to choose his words carefully. "We kinda need someone to help defend us if another team gets close. If I remember correctly, you need to be able to focus to use your Quirk." He winced slightly, probably expecting Yumi to get mad at him, but the girl just gave him a small chuckle.

"See, that's where you would be wrong. You guys know how I've been particularly tired of late?" Izuku and Ochako nodded as a smirk came to my face.

"You mean more than usual?" I received a quick but deadly glare from my best friend before she continued.

"I went to Aizawa and asked if he could help me with some training I wanted to get in before the Festival started. He agreed and told me to meet him out on the training fields after class. For the past week and a half, he's been helping me work on incorporating my Quirk into combat, blocking attacks and stuff like that." She glanced over at Izuku. "Without having to focus as much."

Ochako clapped her hands together, barely managing to contain her excitement. "Wow, Yumi! Your Quirk was already super cool. I can't wait to see it in action now!"

"Calm down, Uraraka. We still need to make it through the Cavalry Battle." She glanced over towards the green-haired boy. "I mean, if I can be on the team."

"Oh, of course you can be on the team, Yumi! Your Quirk should definitely help!" He stopped for a second and his expression became one of slight worry. "Yumi, I-" Before he was able to get any further, however, a rather loud buzzer sounded throughout the stadium. I looked around us before spotting that the countdown had hit zero, Midnight quickly making her way back on stage.

Yumi looked over at Izuku and shook her head. "Don't worry it, Midoriya. Not many people knew, anyway."

He shot a quick smile towards her. "Oh, okay! I thought what I said sounded a little rude, so I wanted to apologize, just to be safe."

"Nah, you'd have to do something really bad to get on my bad side." She gave him a thumbs up and glanced over towards Ochako and I, placing her hands on her hips. "Well guys, whaddya say? Why don't we go kick some butt?"

Ochako put on her best determined face and gave a quick fist pump. "Yeah! Let's do it!" I nodded towards Yumi as Izuku made his way over, and once our hands found each other, our fingers immediately locked together. The four of us started making our way over towards the stage, before a slightly worrying thought entered my mind.

"Wait... guys, do we even have a plan?"

 **VVVVV**

I mentally slapped myself. We had spent so much time looking for teammates that we hadn't left any to think of a decent plan. Thankfully, Izuku was already way ahead of us, having been thinking up a strategy as we added Ochako and Yumi to the team.

"Alright, Midoriya. Are you going to fill us in on your plan?" Midnight had assigned starting spots around the perimeter of the concrete square for all twelve teams, and I could tell that Yumi was starting to get nervous as we made our way over to our spot. There was a hint of impatience in her question and I watched in amusement as she crossed her arms and waited for the boy to lay out his plans.

"Oh, of course! Hannah will be in the front controlling our mobility. She's the fastest and strongest out of us four, so it only makes sense." He glanced over at me quickly, probably wanting to make sure I was okay with that. I nodded and gave him a smile, immediately receiving one back before he continued.

"Uraraka, you''ll use your Quirk to float Yumi and I, and help make Hannah's job easier. The less weight she carries, the longer she'll be able to use her Quirk." The brown-haired girl excitedly nodded and gave another quick fist pump.

"Got it! I won't let you down, Deku!"

He gave her an appreciative smile and turned to Yumi, visibly more relaxed now that Izuku was almost done explaining. "Yumi, you'll use your Quirk to protect us, if need be."

"You mean, with barriers and stuff like that?"

"Yeah!"

Ochako looked at the girl with a questioning look on her face. "Wait... you can do that?" Yumi nodded and waved her hand through the air, a small wall of water appearing in front of her, before balling her hand into a fist. I stood by the side as Ochako looked on in child-like glee, with Izuku paying just as much attention, probably trying to store this away in his memory.

"Making barriers was one of the things Aizawa thought would be useful with a Quirk like mine. So, he spent a majority of the time teaching me and giving advice on how to make barriers of different sizes and shapes." She let go of the fist she was making, the wall of water quickly dissipating back into the air. "Along with a way to control how long they stay up."

Izuku gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. "I was just thinking you could make a few handheld shields for you and Uraraka! But if you can create barriers with your water, that should definitely help." Ochako quickly nodded in agreement, before glancing over at me as I looked off towards some of the other teams.

"What's wrong, Hannah? You seem distracted."

I felt my cheeks warm slightly once I felt everyone's attention fall on me. "What? Oh, no. Yumi told me what was going on over text messages. She asked me not to say anything, in case it got out around the school."

Izuku nodded and instinctively grabbed my hand. "Oh, that makes sense. The Sports Festival is still ultimately a one-on-one competition. It's a good strategy to hide what you can do until the last minute."

"Contestants, ready yourselves! The Cavalry Battle will begin in thirty seconds!"

" _Oh, crap_! Speaking of last minute, we need to get ready, guys!" The three around me paused at my accidental use of English but quickly got moving into their assigned positions. I held my hands back behind me, low enough so Izuku could easily step into them. I hoisted him up with a small grunt and felt him put his hands on my shoulders to steady himself.

Yumi and Ochako each reached an arm through Izuku's legs, letting him sit back on their shoulders while they replaced his hands with theirs. It wasn't long before I heard Ochako activate her Quirk, the strain from holding up Izuku's weight being taken off my arms as he became weightless, and the only indication that he was still in my hands was the grip I had on his shoes. The boy made a small grunt of surprise as he got used to the weightless feeling, before tying our headband around his head and looking back to the girls behind us.

"You guys ready?"

Ochako nodded confidently, almost bursting with anticipation. "Yeah!"

"You know it, Midoriya." Yumi gave him a quick thumbs up with her free hand. I felt him shift in my hands gently as he turned his gaze to me, causing me to crane my neck back to look at him.

"Are you ready, Hannah?"

"Definitely." I shot him a quick nod and a grin, one that Izuku quickly sent back to me. I turned my attention back to the task at hand as Present Mic started hyping up the crowd and prepared to start the game.

"Let's get this party started! One final countdown before the game starts!" He gave a small pause, allowing Midnight to raise her whip into the air in preparation for getting things started. "Three! Two! One!"

The pro hero on stage dropped her whip to her side, a loud crack resounding throughout the stadium. "Begin!"

Immediately, almost every team started making their way towards us, the million points tied around Izuku's head placing an immediate bounty on us. Everyone wanted our headband, and whichever team held it at the end of the game was guaranteed to advance to the finals. If everything went right, it would still be tied around Izuku's head at the end of the game.

I looked back towards the boy above me. "What are we doing, Izuku?

"We're running away! We don't have as much firepower as some of these other teams, so it's the smartest thing we can do!"

"Right, everybody hold on!" I felt Yumi and Ochako grip a bit harder onto my shoulder as I charged my legs, preparing to make a quick getaway into an open bit of the arena, where I could see there weren't many teams.

However, I felt a familiar chill run through the air, causing me to hesitate for just a second, before a large wall of ice streaked through the space where we would've been if I had launched us, blocking off not only the few teams that started to our right but our only decent escape route, as well.

"You won't be going anywhere..." I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, before another wall of ice quickly formed on our opposite side, blocking off the rest of the teams. I heard what sounded like Bakugo spouting off insults and curses on the other side as Todoroki and his team stood in front of us. "... Not with that headband, anyway."

"Todoroki! You planned this from the st-" Izuku couldn't get anymore out before Todoroki tapped Tenya on the shoulder, the blue-haired boy using his Quirk to launch himself and his team towards us at an insane speed that barely left any time for me to react, let alone anyone else.

"Everyone, hang on!" I didn't wait for anyone to answer as I quickly charged my legs and launched us straight up into the air. I looked down as Team Todoroki slid to a stop underneath us, watching as we started falling back to Earth. Panic quickly filled me as I realized I hadn't thought of a plan past avoiding them, but behind me, Yumi called out to us over the wind rushing by.

"Hang on guys, I'm gonna try something!" She threw out her hand, a layer of water forming and running out down in front of us, much like a slide in a playground. We landed on it and quickly slid down to the ground, breaking into a half-sprint once everyone regained their footing.

Izuku turned back to Yumi as we started to put some distance between us and Todoroki. "Yumi, that was amazing! I didn't know you could do something like that!"

I heard her give an incredulous chuckle, as I kept on the lookout for any other teams threatening us. "Neither did I! I just tried it and it worked! Now we've got some room to work with." I nodded as I felt another chill in the air as we ran, glancing over just in time to see about a half dozen teams get frozen in place by Todoroki.

"Yeah, let's definitely try and keep our distance from them. We'll be better off if we can avoid any confrontation." We all knew this, but it needed to be said again. Izuku was right, we didn't have much firepower on this team, besides him and I. But I'm carrying the boy, so I couldn't just let go to attack, we'd be disqualified if he hit the ground. And while Izuku is the rider, he'd break his arms if he used his Quirk, and then we'd just be down a member.

An explosion off to our left broke me from my thoughts, and I quickly looked over in that direction to see what was going on. My eyes widened as I saw Bakugo blasting his way towards us, his eyes filled with anger and his feet just inches off the ground.

"DEKU! DON'T YOU DARE THINK YOU GOT AWAY!" I felt Izuku shift in my hands, having caught sight of the charging hothead.

"Kacchan?!" The blonde boy reached us and extended his right hand, the palm glowing in preparation to blast us. Reacting instinctively, I quickly charged my left leg and pushed off, sending us in the opposite direction. However, Bakugo let off another blast from his left hand, propelling him up above us. I didn't have enough space to react this time, and he reached for us with his right hand again, aiming for the green-haired boy in my hands.

"I've got you!"

Izuku quickly turned and shouted to one of the girls behind him. "Yumi!" She quickly whisked her hand through the air, creating a layer of water in between him and Bakugo, who brought his hand down upon it. A rather large blast was created, causing me to look away and shut my eyes, my hair getting whipped around by the wind that was generated and the heat from the explosion singeing the hairs on the back of my neck.

"Nice try, Bakugo!"

"What the hell?!"

I looked back in time to watch something wrap around Bakugo and pull him back across the arena, immediately recognizing it as Sero's tape. He landed back on his team as Yumi released her barrier, sighing gently as she did.

"Are you guys alright?"

Izuku gave a quick thumbs up. "Yeah, great job with the shield, Yumi!"

I shot her a thankful nod as Ochako excitedly nodded in agreement. "Mmhmm! Another few seconds, and we would've been barbecue." I couldn't help but grin at the bubbly girls' choice of words, but I quickly set my mind back to the task at hand and got us moving again. There had to have only been a few minutes left, so all we needed to do was try and stay away from the other teams. If Bakugo and Todoroki didn't have anything more to say about that, anyway.

"With only two minutes left in the game, Team Midoriya still has control of their million points, despite the best efforts of Todoroki and Bakugo!" I heard Izuku groan in frustration and I felt everyone's eyes turn to us as Present Mic inadvertently reminded all the other teams about our million points.

Mr. Aizawa spoke up in his usual disinterested tone of voice, a slight hint of irritation seeping through. "You just put another target back on their backs. They were probably banking on you keeping your mouth shut and trying to stay out of the fight, considering their team composition."

Not long after the words left Mr. Aizawa's mouth, I felt that familiar cold chill in the air and stopped in my tracks, expecting to see another one of Todoroki's ice walls block our path. Almost immediately, however, a glaze of ice shot across the ground and wrapped itself around my ankles, encasing my feet in a solid layer of ice. The cold clawed its way through my shoes, causing me to gasp in pain as my feet quickly started going numb.

"Hannah! Are you alright?!" I felt Izuku put his hand on my shoulder as I desperately tried to pry myself free.

"Yeah, I'm fine! But I'm stu-"

At that moment, a blur raced by us, dust and smoke getting kicked up behind it. The acrid smell made my nose and throat burn, and my coughing was quickly accompanied by my teammates' own. As the dust cleared, I faintly heard Present Mic excitedly yelling, but I could barely hear him over the noise that the crowd was making.

Yumi gave an uncomfortable groan as she used her free arm to try and wipe her eyes. "What the hell was that?!" I opened my mouth to reply to her, but before I could, Ochako gasped and quickly called out to Izuku.

"Deku! Your headband's gone!"

My heart sunk and I quickly looked behind me to see a panicking Izuku reach up and feel for the headband that was no longer tied around his head.

"W-What?! Where'd it go?!"

I looked down at the ice encasing my feet and mentally slapped myself for not realizing it earlier. "Todoroki. He froze me so we couldn't move, and then they used Tenya's speed to get in and out before we could do anything to stop them." I looked around as much as I could and quickly spotted Todoroki's team stopped a ways away, the boy himself tying a headband around his neck.

Ochako gave an annoyed whine. "I didn't know Tenya could go that fast!"

"He must have been keeping it a secret, like Yumi was with her barriers." Izuku put a hand on my shoulder and did his best to try and keep the rising panic out of his voice. "Hannah, we don't have much time left. Do you think you can free yourself?"

I gave him a quick nod and started building charge in my legs. "Yeah, I should be able to. Gimme a second, I'm gonna try something." I closed my eyes and sent charge in and out of my legs, hoping to build up enough heat to start melting the ice keeping me in place. After a few seconds, I had started to think it was having no effect, but then the ice started to sizzle and crack. Imagery of bacon in a skillet briefly flashed through my mind, before I was finally able to shift my feet a little and pull them free.

"Whoa, Hannah! That was so-"

"Izuku, we don't have time. Make sure to grab that headband. Everyone, hold on!" I felt Ochako and Yumi grip on tighter as I set my feet and launched us towards the idle team. Momo spotted us almost immediately and she quickly alerted Todoroki, who promptly sent a wave of ice our way.

I dug my heels into the ground and pushed off to the right, dodging the attack, and launched us into arms' reach. I got bathed in heat, and spotted what looked like fire at the edge of my vision, but it was extinguished as quickly as it had appeared. We sped past Todoroki and slid to a stop as Present Mic's voice excitedly rung out around the arena.

"Time's up! And with that, the second round is officially over!"

I felt Izuku hop down from my hands and come to my side as I hunched over and tried to catch my breath. He placed a hand on my back as I took breath after shaky breath, desperately trying to get my temperature back under control. I glanced over at him and saw a headband hanging limply in his hand, but I couldn't see how many points it was worth.

"Were you... were you able to get our headband back?"

He paused for a second and looked at the piece of fabric in his hand, his voice wavering slightly. "I'm sorry, Hannah... I couldn't tell which headband was which because they had them turned inside-out. I just... grabbed what I could." My shoulders slumped and I gave an pained sigh as he offered me the headband. I hesitantly took it from him, not really wanting to see the point value written on it, as I heard our teammates come up behind us.

Yumi knelt down beside me and wrapped her arm around my shoulders, disappointment clear in her voice as she spoke. "Tough luck, guys. We gave it our best shot."

"Yeah... if it helps to make you feel better, it was still super fun!" I couldn't help but chuckle at Ochako's infectious energy as Present Mic spoke up again.

"Now, let's take a look at who our top four teams are! In first place, Team Todoroki!" The crowd started cheering as said team appeared up on the video screen. "In second place, Team Bakugo!" The cheers turned to mostly boos as a raging Bakugo appeared on the screen, the rest of his team looking on in apprehension.

"In third place is Team Shinso, who have come back from the dead to take one of the final spots!" The screen proceeded to show that kid with the messy purple hair, who personally declared war on our class. He seemed rather pleased with himself as he walked away from his teammates.

"And in fourth place, taking the final spot, is Team Midoriya!"

I choked on air so badly that it ripped Izuku out of his daze, and he started patting me on the back, obviously concerned for my well-being. After I recovered, I looked up at the screen to see myself looking back, along with my equally as stunned teammates, the crowd cheering us wildly. I quickly remembered the headband in my hand and unfolded it to reveal the red number printed on it.

" _615_..." I looked at the number for a few seconds, reading it back to myself in my head a couple times, before it finally hit me, a smile quickly spreading across my face.

"Oh my god, we made the finals..." I looked over towards the two girls, Ochako nearly overflowing with excitement, and Yumi looking as calm and collected as she always has, only a small smirk betraying her own excitement at advancing. They both pointed behind me, causing me to turn and meet the eyes of Izuku. He shot a smile at me, tears in the corners of his eyes, and before I knew it, I had thrown myself into his arms.

I stuffed my face into the crook of his neck as my own tears fell down my face, a few staining the shoulder of Izuku's uniform. He broke away only to bring us back, our lips connecting for the briefest of seconds before parting again, and pressed his forehead against mine.

"We did it, Hannah."

"Yeah, we did, didn't we?" I gave him a sly smile before our lips came back together one more time, before Present Mic spoke up, reminding us of where we were.

"Aww, how touching. Now, let's take an hour lunch break before we start the afternoon festivities! See ya soon!"

"Finally! I'm starving!" Yumi stretched her arms up towards the sky, letting out a satisfied groan.

I shook my head at her as the four of us started making our way towards the door to the outside of the stadium, Izuku quick to take hold of my hand. "Yumi, you're always starving!"

"Shush, you're not any less hungry than I am."

"... Alright, that's true..."

 **VVVVV**

"What do you think?"

"Well, that certainly makes things more interesting. It seems Sato and Midoriya are more than just close friends." Yasutake's eyes scanned the baby blue walls of the bathroom as he impatiently listened to the voice on the other side of the phone. "If we were to capture one, it would give us significant leverage over the other. And maybe even UA as a whole."

There was suddenly what sounded like a chair being knocked over, followed by the voice of a girl. "Don't you dare hurt them, they're my frien-" She let out a pained grunt and the sound of a body falling to the floor carried through the mouthpiece on the other end. The girl was audibly gasping for breath and coughing, Yasutake guessing a swift gut punch had been administered.

"I'm deeply sorry about that, our little pet seemed to have been able to slip out of Giran's hold. Please continue to observe, Yasutake. We may have more work for you in the future, after all."

"I-I'm not your fucking pet..." The call dropped before the girl could say any more, although Yasutake wasn't really all that interested. He had heard of the fight the girl had put up when she and her mother were initially taken, and while he was impressed, she had no leverage to be able to do such a thing in the situation she was in now.

Stuffing his trusty flip phone back in his pocket, Yasutake unlocked the bathroom door and again let it close by itself. The amount of people walking around and the rumbling of his stomach quickly reminded him that it was the lunch break.

His feet moved in the direction of the vendors outside the stadium, his next action having already been decided. "Well... let's go see what UA has to offer food-wise."


	23. Time in Between the Games

Once we got outside, we were assaulted by the sights, sounds and smells of the marketplace outside the stadium. Vendors selling toys, merchandise, and many different kinds of food were all shouting and trying to sell their product to whoever would stop and listen.

I caught sight of a few of the other students floating through the crowd as Izuku, Yumi and I made our way along the path. Ochako had said her goodbyes and went off to find Tenya almost immediately after we got outside, blushing slightly more than she usually would be at the mention of the blue-haired boys' name.

It wasn't long before Yumi had bought a couple chocolate bars, putting one in her pocket and opening up the other before taking a huge bite out of it. She dug out her phone, having run back to our class' waiting room to grab it, as Izuku and I walked up to what looked like a small bread shop selling different kinds of muffins, cookies and cakes. Taking a quick look at the prices, I reached into my pocket to grab some money, but Izuku quickly stopped me.

"Here, lemme pay!" He dug into his pockets as my cheeks quickly warmed up, a small smile crossing my face. I silently hoped the elderly vendor couldn't see me blushing as Izuku gathered the necessary money, then pointed to one of the options on a chalkboard propped up on a table in front of the vendor. Blueberry muffins...

My mouth started watering as the vendor got up from the chair he was sat in and reached into a basket by his side, filled with said muffins. He picked out two and handed them to Izuku, who in turn handed over the money. The vendor waved goodbye to us and sat down as Izuku and I made our way over to where Yumi was waiting for us, him handing me my muffin on the way.

I immediately took a bite out of the top and rested my head on Izuku's shoulder, letting the delicious and tangy taste of the blueberries melt in my mouth. He wrapped his arm around my waist as we stopped and sat down on a bench next to Yumi, who looked up from her phone at us. She shook her head and gave an incredulous chuckle, turning back to her phone.

"What am I gonna do with you two?" She popped the last of her first chocolate bar into her mouth and crossed her legs casually. "So, you guys know that you kissed on live TV, right?"

I stopped for a few seconds, feeling myself shrink a little bit. "I... forgot we were on TV..."

"Y-Yeah, me too..." Izuku and I had both reddened to the point that anyone passing by would probably think we were sick or something. There was a growing feeling of panic in my chest now that the entire world knew about us, but no one had really bothered us since we broke for lunch. It was almost as if Izuku could sense and feel my discomfort, as he gripped tighter onto my waist and pulled us closer together.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, guys." Yumi sat back and pulled out a fresh chocolate bar, expertly tearing the package open. "Most of the media are focused on the Sports Festival, especially since the Finals are coming up next.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. Who knows, maybe it won't be so bad, right?" I looked over at Izuku, who shot me a reassuring smile, leaning forward to lay a kiss on my forehead. I shot a smile of my own back as I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, enjoying a light breeze that had started blowing through the area. Soon, however, the light crunching of boots on the gravel path alerted me to someone standing in front of us.

"Midoriya."

I opened my eyes and raised my head to see Todoroki standing in front of us, looking ever so slightly annoyed. "I would like to speak with you." He sent a cold glance over towards Yumi and I. "Alone."

"Oh, sure..." Izuku looked at me and gave a strained smiled, handing me his muffin. "H-Here, we can go get something to eat after the Festival." My cheeks reddened slightly as I smiled back and nodded. I took the muffin from him and watched as he followed Todoroki off towards an alcove that probably housed one of the staircases to the other levels of the stadium.

Yumi finished off her second chocolate bar and tossed the package into a nearby trash can. "I wonder what his problem is."

"Who? Todoroki?

She nodded. "Yeah, he seems like someone who thinks the world owes him or something."

I looked over towards where the two boys walked over to and let out a sigh. "I'm sure he has a reason." At that point, I felt a pair of eyes watching me, and I quickly scanned the crowd milling about in front of us. No one in particular seemed to be paying us any attention, however, so I turned my attention back towards Yumi as she leaned against the armrest of the bench and gave a sigh of her own.

"Better be a good one. We've barely talked since school started and he's basically giving everyone the cold shoulder." She looked over at me as a smirk started spreading across my face. "Don't you dare."

I stuffed Izuku's muffin into my mouth to stifle a giggle. "I wasn't going to."

"You so were." She shook her head quickly before her phone vibrated in her hand, grabbing the girl's attention.

I took another bite and looked over at her. "Mina?"

"Yeah, she's going off about Bakugo right now. Making me glad I wasn't on his team."

"I only wish I see him in the Finals. I'd love to get my hands on him, especially after what he said earlier." The hotheads words rang in my head briefly, before the shocked expression on his face after I slapped him brought a small smirk to my face.

"So would I, if only to take him down a peg or two. And give him a few for my girl." She gave me a playful punch to the shoulder as a small blush adorned my cheeks. I reached over and wrapped my arm around her, bringing her into a quick side hug, an action she quickly reciprocated.

As we broke apart, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and quickly spied someone wearing a dark hoodie leaning against the front of one of the shops across from us. They had their hoodie pulled up over their head, creating a shadow that blocked most of their face. Apprehension filled me as I tapped Yumi on the shoulder and motioned over towards them.

"Hey... how long has he been standing there?"

"I dunno, I never noticed him until now." I sat and watched them for a seconds, before a small throbbing in my temples tore my gaze away. It quickly started to hurt and the pain steadily got worse as I clenched my eyes shut and laid my head in my hands, alerting Yumi to my predicament.

"Whoa, Han! You alright?" I felt her place a hand on my back as she spoke, her voice filled with worry and care. Almost as quickly as it came, however, the throbbing stopped. I raised my head from hands and blinked a couple times, my eyes adjusting quickly to the light.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was weird, my head just started hurting, like I had a headache."

"You sure it wasn't just a headache?"

I shook my head adamantly. "No, it wouldn't have come and gone that quickly."

Yumi reached across my lap and grabbed the muffin Izuku had given me. "Maybe you just need to eat something. You did just carry all of us into the finals with you." She took hold of my hand and gently placed the small baked good in it.

"Heh, yeah. I guess you're right." I took a bite from the muffin and looked off towards where we saw that guy just a bit ago. However, he was nowhere to be seen. I craned my neck to try and catch a glimpse of his hoodie in the crowd, but I didn't have much luck. "Oh, he's gone..."

Yumi took a look at her watch. "Probably went back inside. It's almost time for the Finals to start." She stood up and stretched, releasing a satisfied sigh. "Speaking of, we should probably head back inside ourselves. We don't want to be disqualified after everything that's happened!"

"Mmm! Good idea!" I quickly stuffed the rest of the muffin into my mouth and stood up, wiping away some crumbs that had fallen into my lap. Grabbing my phone, I quickly texted Izuku that lunch was almost over and to meet us inside, before turning to see Yumi smirking at me. "What?"

"Oh, nothing! I was just curious if you were going to add a little heart at the end of your message." My cheeks immediately heated up as I realized she must've glanced over my shoulder while I was typing or something. I had indeed added a heart to my message, and the blush I was now sporting told her everything she needed to know.

"Hah! Don't worry, Han. I won't tell anyone." She wrapped her arm around my shoulders as we walked through a set of double doors back towards the waiting rooms. I let out a low growl as I tried to hide my blush as other students and staff walked past us.

"S-Shut up..."

VVVVV

"What do you guys think the Finals will be?"

"I dunno. Last year, the finals were a foam sword-fighting tournament. It was hilarious to watch on TV."

"Ohh, yeah! I remember that! That was sho funny!"

Yumi and I had quickly met back up with Mina and Ochako, the latter of whom was quietly snacking out of a bag of chips. The arena was quickly refilling, both with other students and the fans, as the three girls around me excitedly talked amongst themselves. I gave my two cents whenever I was addressed, but my attention was mostly on the arena entrance, something that Yumi quickly picked up on.

"Calm down, Han. Midoriya isn't the kind of person to be late for anything, let alone the Finals of the Sports Festival."

"I knooow. I just don't want him to miss this. Like you said before, especially after all we've been through today." I shot another glance towards the entrance, my gaze hesitating slightly as Todoroki came around the corner, looking as disinterested as ever. Izuku followed relatively close behind, quickly making his way over once he spotted us. He wrapped his arm around my waist and smoothly brought our lips together briefly, much to the delight of the pink-skinned girl next to us.

"Ooo, you guys! It's illegal to be that cute!" She playfully pouted as our cheeks quickly reddened, which caused giggles to emanate from Yumi and Ochako. However, Present Mic's voice rang out through the arena again with renewed vigor, drowning out any chances of conversations continuing.

"Get those foam fingers in the air! It's almost time for the last round! But before that: Good news for everyone who didn't make the finals. Since this is a sports festival, we've prepared some super-fun side games everyone can participate in!

"After their over, the sixteen students from the top four teams will be duking it out one-on-one in a tournament-style fighting competition! I promise you're not gonna wanna miss these epic match-ups!"

Midnight calmly stepped back on stage, a pale orange box in her hands, the word "Lots" cleanly written on the side. "For those of you who have advanced to the finals, come closer and draw lots to see who you're up against. Then enjoy the pleasure of the recreational games before we start. The sixteen finalists have the option of participating in those activities or sitting out to prepare for battle. I'm sure you all want to conserve your stamina."

Izuku and I made our way up to the stage, along with all of the other finalists. Midnight crouched down and held out the box for us to reach into, making sure we couldn't blatantly look inside. When it was my turn, I reached inside, taking hold of one of many little pieces of paper and pulled it out. On it, written in marker, was the number '7'.

Izuku reached in after me, pulling out his own piece of paper. "Oh, number one." I turned to him as he showed me the number, holding up my own with a small smile.

"Number seven."

"Huh. I wonder how they're going to match us up."

I casually hooked some hair behind my ear, trying to hide my rising nervousness. "I don't know. I'm sure they'll go over it."

We shot a pair of smiles at each other as we waited for the rest of the finalists to receive their numbers. As we were nearing the last few people, I felt a pair of eyes, which caused me to look around us. I noticed a boy with messy purple hair amongst the crowd staring at me, quickly recognizing him as the kid from General Studies, the one who basically declared war on our class. Our eyes locked together for a split second, only for his lips to curve into a smirk. He chuckled to himself and shook his head quickly before walking out of sight.

I sent a questioning look off in his direction, but before I could ponder much longer, Midnight cracked her whip and spoke up loudly. "Take a look at the bracket, my dears!" A screen appeared in the air behind her, everyone's names and their picture appearing down at the bottom next to their respective opponents. I immediately started searching for mine, quickly finding them alongside Momo Yaoyorozu's.

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, looking over to see the same girl making her way over. "Hannah Sato. Despite being in the same class, we haven't talked much this year. However, I've heard plenty of good things about you, most of which was confirmed during the cavalry battle." She shot me a friendly smile. "Let's both give it our best shot."

"Of course, Momo. I wasn't planning on giving anything less." I gave her a quick thumbs up and a smile of my own before she went off on her way. Feeling a hand slip into my own, I turned to look at Izuku, an air of worry surrounding him. He let out a nervous sigh and motioned up towards the screen.

"I'm going to be in the first match of the Finals. I can't believe it." A smile crept along my face as I wrapped my arms around him and looked up at the screen, realizing he'd be facing that General Studies kid. Hitoshi Shinso.

"Better believe it soon. You'll have less time to prepare than anyone else." He glanced at me and smiled, wrapping his arm around me as we started making our way back towards the Class 1-A waiting room. The idea of getting some alone time with Izuku away from the crowds was one I was looking forward to, however, the crunching of gravel behind us alerted me to the presence of another person. I knew who it was as soon as they spoke.

"Stupid Deku." I turned around to see Bakugo walking towards us with his hands stuffed into his pockets. He gave an unamused grunt as he passed by us, only to stop a few feet ahead. "I doubt you'll get past this Shinso guy, let alone Icy-Hot."

He turned to us, his eyes full of aggression. "But if you somehow manage to fluke your way into the finals, I'll be more than happy to blast you back to where you belong!"

Izuku was about to respond, but Bakugo quickly turned to me. "And you, Tesla Coil." My eyes shot up to meet the hothead's own. "We're in the same part of the bracket. You better make it to the semifinals. I'll roast your ass, too."

"Yeah? I'd like to see you try." Izuku gripped tighter onto my waist as the blonde boy turned heel and made his way towards the market on the outside of the stadium. I glared silent daggers into his back as he left, noticing after Bakugo had turned the corner that Izuku was watching me with wary eyes.

"Don't worry, Izuku. I wasn't even thinking about fighting with him." I gave a sigh and looked off in the direction the boy left in. "Not on live TV, anyway."

He let out a breath and gently pulled me closer. "Oh, okay. I know you'll do your best, Hannah. You don't need to fight him."

"Will I need to? Maybe. Do I want to? Most definitely." I turned to him and leaned forward, planting a light kiss onto his cheek, giggling as the boy reddened slightly. "But we don't have to worry about that for a bit. Let's go get you ready."

The boy managed a smile through his blush and nodded, taking hold of my hand. "Definitely."

VVVVV

It wasn't long before Izuku and I made it back to our class' waiting room. We were the only one's back here, everyone else either having stayed behind to participate in the games or going off on their own to prepare for the Finals. The quietness of the tunnels was deafening compared to the noise from the crowd, and I quickly found myself laying my head on the boy's shoulder as we approached the door, Izuku himself holding me closer to him. I guess we wanted to make the most of the quiet while we still could.

We walked through the door and separated, Izuku sitting down and grabbing another chair at a table, while I headed over to a mini-fridge in the corner of the room. I took out a couple bottles of water and walked over, handing one to him before sitting down next to him.

"Alright, let's see..." I took a quick drink from my bottle. "Usually we could look at your notebook or pull from your memory and put together a strategy from there."

Izuku nodded, understanding our predicament. "But we don't know anything about Shinso."

"Yeah... besides the fact he's in General Studies and looks like he hasn't slept a day in his life." I grinned as Izuku gave off a small chuckle. We there for a few seconds thinking to ourselves before a light tapping noise attracted our attention toward the door, accompanied by a familiar voice.

"I could probably help you guys with that."

We both turned in our chairs to see Itsuka Kendo leaning casually against the doorframe. The orange-haired 'Big Sister' of Class 1-B was shooting us a friendly smile, but I could see disappointment on her face and in her eyes.

Izuku turned fully in his seat to face the girl. "Oh, hey Kendo. What do you mean?"

She walked inside and grabbed a chair, sitting backwards on it. "Well, I saw you were gonna be fighting Shinso, so I thought I'd come and warn you about him."

"Warn us?"

"Yeah." She gave an annoyed sigh. "I wanted to catch you guys before you left, but I needed to talk to Midnight first. You see... I don't remember how I got into the Finals."

I leaned back in my chair and gave her a quizzical look. "What do you mean? How do you not remember getting into the Finals?"

"I don't know! It's like I blacked out or something, 'cause the only things I remember are Shinso asking if I wanted to be on his team, and then coming to in the middle of the arena after the cavalry battle."

"And you think it could be his Quirk?"

She nodded and moved some hair out of her face. "It had to be! I wouldn't just forget something like this."

Izuku put his hand on his chin, losing himself in thought for a quick second. "Hmm... that sounds like a mind control Quirk of some kind. Did he say anything or do anything that seemed strange?"

Itsuka shook her head again. "Not at all. He walked up to me and asked if I wanted to be on his team. I said 'Yeah, sure', and then I'm standing in the arena with him walking away from me and who I assumed were my teammates."

I sat silent for a second, before an idea popped into my head. "This is just a guess..." I paused briefly as the two looked at me. "... But what if you replying was what allowed him to control you?"

The boy next to me quickly nodded in agreement. "Hannah makes a good point. If he had been able to just take control of your mind, he would've done it instead of talking to you first."

"That makes sense, I guess. Although, if that is the case, he's probably aware that you could just not talk to him."

"True, but we don't really have much else to go on..."

"Well, I hope it helps anyway. I don't really know much else about the guy." Itsuka got up from her chair and reached her arms up to the ceiling, letting out a satisfied sigh as she dropped them. "I promised Tokage that I'd go with her to the museum after the Festival. Gotta go find her and officially make plans."

Izuku and I nearly jumped up out of our chairs, our questions leaving our mouths are essentially the same time. "Wait, you're not going to be in the Finals?!"

I immediately felt the atmosphere in the room sour slightly, the girl stopping in the doorway and turning to meet our gaze. "No... that's why I was talking with Midnight. I was giving up my place, to someone who was more deserving.

"It's fine, though! I'd much rather be in the Finals through my own doing, rather than just because someone used me." She shot us a quick smile and a thumbs up. "Besides, I still have two more chances at it before I graduate. Good luck in the Finals, you two." With that, she waved us goodbye and continued through the door, her footsteps growing quieter before all Izuku and I could hear were the faint murmurs of the crowd.

Both of us sat stunned for a few seconds before Izuku ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "I guess we have a plan then." He paused for a second and chuckled to himself. "Well, I do, anyway."

"As long as you don't talk to him, you'll do just fine..." I leaned over and pressed my lips to his, quickly feeling him reciprocate before laying my head on his shoulder again, closing my eyes and letting out a small sigh. "... Assuming we've guessed how his Quirk works, anyway."

Izuku wrapped his arm around my shoulders and laid his head against mine, the both of us content to sit in silence. The pace and action of the past few hours was a lot to take in, so the relatively silent and empty room provided the moment to slow down both of us had been wanting. It was just a bonus that we got to spend that time with each other.

It felt like only a few minutes had passed before I heard Present Mic's voice start ringing clearly down the hallway. The slow stroking of Izuku's hand on my head and through my hair had been slowly lulling me to sleep, so I was mildly surprised when I looked at the clock on the wall to see that about 20 minutes had passed. A yawn slowly clawed its way from my throat, the boy looking down at me as a result.

"Did you enjoy your nap?"

I gave him a playful punch in the chest, a grin spreading across my face. "I wasn't sleeping." He let out a small chuckle and leaned in to lay a kiss onto my cheek.

"I would've had to wake you up, anyway. It's almost time for the Finals to start." He took his arm from around me and briefly stretched towards the ceiling, before standing up and offering his hand. I happily accepted it, quickly getting pulled into a hug by the boy.

He pressed his forehead to mine as he shot me a smile. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, Izuku." I shot a smile back and wrapped my arms around him in return, the warmth from his body doing much to comfort the growing nervousness in my chest. Our hands found each other as we separated, ready to head out of the room and into the tunnel to join the rest of the finalists.

However, a small man in a suit casually walked in the door, sporting messy yellow hair and a wide smile. Izuku froze suddenly as he came into view, causing me to give him a look of confusion. "Young Midoriya! Sorry I haven't said hi. You've been great. You finally harnessed One For A-!"

The man froze as he took notice of me for the first time, as his words rumbled through my head like a stampede of gazelle. _Young Midoriya._ There was only one person I knew who called everyone 'Young'.

"All Might?"

"Shit."


	24. It's Time for the Finals

The room was filled with an awkward silence. Izuku was sat next to me with his hands in his lap, nervousness virtually radiating from his person. The man who I presumed was All Might sat across the table from us, twiddling his thumbs as the clock on the wall ticked away the seconds. I sat back in my seat and patiently tried to wait for one of them to speak up.

"Hmm, this is awkward." All Might reached up and scratched the back of his head. "I suppose it's fitting that you're the first to find out about us, Young Sato, being Midoriya's partner and all."

"Find out about what, exactly?"

"Well, first of all..." He motioned towards himself. "... My current condition." He then leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. "And that I've taken Young Midoriya under my wing. As my protege, I guess you can say."

I glanced over at Izuku, who was busy looking anywhere else but me. A pang of hurt shot through my chest briefly, before I turned back to All Might, my mind swirling with the information I've just been given.

"A-Alright... Why- What happened? You were big and muscley and smiling in class just a couple days ago!"

"That's a long story-"

"Alright, all you rabid sports fans! Get your popcorn ready and have your phones on hand! The Finals will be starting in just a couple of minutes!" The pro hero was cut off as cheers from the crowd in the arena made their way down the hallway, following closely behind the unmistakable voice of Present Mic flowing through the loudspeakers.

All Might gave a heavy sigh and stood up from his seat. "Unfortunately, it's a story that we don't have time for right now. Young Midoriya's match is soon, and I'm sure you'll want to be out there supporting him."

"But-!" He silenced me with a raised hand.

"After the Finals are over, we'll fill you in on everything. Until then, I would appreciate it if you kept quiet about this. We can't risk any of this getting out and falling into the wrong hands." He placed his hands on the table and leaned forward, his demeanor becoming more serious. "Can we trust you to do that for us, Young Sato?"

I glanced back and forth between the two for a few seconds, before hesitantly nodding. "Y-Yeah, sure." This was so much to take in all at once. All Might, the hero that I had looked up to all my life, was... unwell, or something... and he was asking me to keep it a secret. Added on to that was that fact I had to compete in the Finals of the Sports Festival before I got any answers at all. I could already feel the anxiety building in my chest.

"Good. I hope so." He stood up and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Now, get going you two. You don't want to keep everyone waiting." I sat still for second watching the Symbol of Peace exit the room before standing and sliding my chair back under the table. Izuku quickly stood up, the movement grabbing my attention as he came to my side.

"Hannah... I'm really sorry. I wanted to tell you, but All Might kept saying I shouldn't..."

"It's fine, Izuku. I understand." I saw the boy visibly relax out of the corner of my eye, bringing a small smile to my face. Running my hands through my hair and letting out a sigh, I mentally tried to stuff all of the information and anticipation away for later, and slipped my hand into Izuku's. "I have to say, though. I'm kind of jealous."

"What do you mean?"

"You're being mentored by the world's greatest hero, Izuku! I would give almost anything to be in your position!"

He shot a sly grin at me. "Heh, yeah. I guess a lot of people would." He reached up and swept some of my hair behind my ear, bringing a small blush to my cheeks. Another cheer from the crowd caused the boy to look back at the door, looking back at me with a smile. "You should get going. Everyone's gonna wonder where you are."

"Oh, right!" I took a step towards the door before stopping for a second and planting a kiss onto Izuku's lips, slightly startling the boy before he quickly recovered and began reciprocating. We separated and locked eyes for a few seconds, before I felt my cheeks heat up and a small smile crossed my face.

"Good luck, Izuku. Show everyone why you deserve to be here."

He nodded in reply and sent back a smile of his own. "I wasn't planning to do anything less."

 **VVVVV**

After a few minutes of searching, I had finally found the stairs that led up into the stands. The staff had put up maps of the stadium throughout the hallways and tunnels, each one with a little 'You Are Here' mark to tell you where you were. Unfortunately, I hadn't noticed them and had almost got myself lost before I realized that they were there, probably to help poor souls like me. I climbed up the staircase to the student level, where all of the classes sat when they weren't participating, and turned into my classes section.

Only to get hit in the face with a stuffed bear.

I fell back and quickly grabbed a hold of the railing in front of me as the bear gently fell to the ground next to me. Regaining my footing, I reached down and picked up the toy, snickers and laughter resounding from the seats in front of me. I glanced up towards them and immediately recognized Yumi and Mina desperately trying to muffle their amusement. All I could do was shake my head and make my way towards them.

"Having fun, you two?"

"Y-Yeah." Yumi took a deep breath and wiped away a tear. "Man, that was perfect."

Mina managed to stifle a new wave of laughter, holding her stomach gently. "Ohhh, the face you made was awesome, Hannah!"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly expecting to be assaulted by a teddy bear when I came up the stairs." I took a seat next to Mina and held the bear in my hands. "Where'd you guys get this anyway?"

"We found one of those ball toss games out in the market. Mina ended up crushing it and as soon as she picked out the bear, she nearly tore it from the poor vendor's hands."

The pink girl stomped her foot and feigned disgust. "I did not! I just thought he was cute and I really wanted him."

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself, handing the bear to Mina who happily took it. "So, the first thing you decide to do is toss it at my face?"

"That was my idea, actually..." Yumi quickly leant forward and raised her hand from the other side of our friend. "Sorry, but it was hilarious."

"Yeah, I bet it was." I shook my head again, laying on as much friendly sarcasm as I could, sitting back in my seat as pro hero and UA teacher Cementoss started using his Quirk to create a concrete platform to fight on. "By the way, aren't you two going to be facing each other in your first match?"

"Yeah, so?" Yumi wrapped her arm around Mina and brought her into a sloppy side hug, the two girls sharing a warm smile, Yumi glancing at the pink girl. "That doesn't mean we can't hang out and have fun with each other beforehand."

I raised my hands into the air beside me, a smile quickly crossing me face as I saw the last of our class climb the stairs and take their seats. "I never said you couldn't, I was just wondering."

Any and all conversation was then quickly drowned out as Present Mic spoke up again, some feedback briefly causing everyone to groan and cover their ears. "All right, audience! We had a few minor technical difficulties, but let's cut to the good stuff and not delay these Finals any longer!

"Please, welcome our first fighters! Izuku Midoriya from the hero course and Hitoshi Shinso from general studies!" The crowd recovered quickly to respond with a deafening cheer. Mina, Yumi, and I stood and clapped to welcome the two combatants, the raven-haired girl letting off an ear-piercing whistle at the mention of Izuku's name. My eyes automatically followed the boy as he made his way to the ring, a large slab of white concrete ringed with a significantly darker shade of concrete.

Present Mic continued after the crowd settled slightly. "The rules are simple. Immobilize your opponent or force them outta the ring! You can also win by getting the other person to cry uncle!

"Bring on the injuries, 'cause we've got our very own Recovery Girl waiting on standby! So put your morals aside and don't be afraid to play dirty! But of course, no life-threatening crap, folks. It's not allowed. Real heroes use their power to throw villains in jail, not kill them."

Cementoss made his way from the side of the platform to the middle, quickly creating a seat for himself and sitting down in it. "I'll stop anyone who tries to get too rough."

"Alrighty, sports fans! Are you ready to get this show on the road?!" Present Mic paused to let the crowd voice it's favorable opinion. "Ready, contestants?"

The anticipation in the stadium noticeably began to rise as Izuku set his feet in preparation for the match to begin, while Shinso was still just casually sitting back on his heels, as if he was one hundred percent confident he would win.

It was then that I remembered Izuku and I's meeting with Itsuka earlier, how she said Shinso had taken control of her, used her. Nervous anxiety started quickly filling my chest as I realized exactly why he looked so confident; all he needed to do was get you to respond to him. If that happened, it would be over. And all I could do now was hope that Izuku remembered to not say anything.

"Begin!"

Neither boy moved for a split second, before Izuku hesitantly started making his way towards Shinso, almost as if he was unsure of what he'd do when he reached the other boy. I leant forward in my seat, eager to learn the answer, before Shinso spoke up with a small smirk.

"So, you made it to the Finals. I guess congratulations are in order." He proceeded to slowly clap his hands together, calmly watching as Izuku got closer. "I guess it's only natural that you did, with that girlfriend of yours. Easy to say that she did most of the heavy lifting. What was her name again? Heather? Helena?" I saw Yumi and Mina glance at me out of the corner of my eye, and I quickly felt like most of the rest of our class was doing the same.

So this is his strategy; talking about me to try and get Izuku to talk.

But Shinso had to have guessed by now that Izuku knew about his Quirk, as Izuku continued to advance, his silence clearly starting to get to the purple-haired boy. He ran a hand through his hair quickly before taking a few steps forward, only to be met with a vicious right to the jaw as Izuku quickly covered the distance between them and went on the attack.

The blow caused Shinso to let out a cry and stagger backwards, gripping the side of his face. Izuku rushed forward and unleashed a dazzlingly quick combination of punches, each one connecting with an unprotected piece of Shinso's body despite the boy doing his best to cover up. After a few seconds of punishment, he grabbed a handful of Izuku's uniform and pushed the green-haired boy away, taking the opportunity to scramble away towards the middle of the platform.

A smile started to slowly cross my face as I watched Izuku fight. He seemed so much more confident now than he ever did in the past few weeks we spent training together. He was always so attentive and hard-working, though, I wouldn't put it past him to have been studying and practicing on his own time. If that was true, then it's no wonder he caught up to me so quickly.

My attention turned back towards the arena as Shinso, clutching his ribs, stopped a short distance from Izuku and turned on his heels. "Heh... what does that say about her taste in guys, huh? I was just trying to have... a friendly conversation and you're throwing punches at me..."

"Yeah, it's a fight, genius. That's what you do." I heard Yumi give a sarcastic quip that caused Mina to immediately break into snickers next to me as Izuku started advancing once more, this time much more confidently than before.

He closed the gap Shinso had created and quickly began peppering the boy with yet more blows, before backing away and delivering a roundhouse kick aimed at Shinso's head that the boy somehow got his arms up in front of. However, the force from the kick was enough to knock him to his knees.

"What- What would she think... if you started attacking everyone... who came close...?" Shinso shakily sat back on his feet and looked up at Izuku with a smirk, the green-haired boy stopping to take a step back and slowly run hands through his hair. Shinso's constant prodding must've been starting to effect Izuku, so much so that I could almost feel his frustration. He wanted to bite back, but one word was all Shinso needed.

"You know... probably not very much. She didn't look very intelligent... the few times I've seen her."

"Just shut up!"

Izuku leapt forward in anger, his arm beginning to glow brilliantly. However, the glow ceased to exist just as quickly as it had appeared, Izuku slowing and stumbling to a stop in front of the kneeling boy. His arms fell limply to his sides and a quick glance up to one of the video boards showed Izuku staring vacantly into the distance.

My heart sunk as the realization hit me; Izuku wasn't home anymore.

 **Izuku's POV**

" _What's going on?"_ I tried to take a step forward, only for my feet to stayed planted where they were. " _W-Why can't I move?"_ Panic quickly start welling up in my chest, but no matter what I did, I couldn't even lift a finger. I tried and tried to tell my feet to move, to do anything. But nothing was working.

" _Alright, Izuku. Just... calm down. Ugh, my head feels... so foggy. I can... barely think straight."_

"This is much better. Now, be a good little hero and eliminate yourself." A voice penetrated through the clouds, significantly clearer and louder than everything else. Before I had a chance to do much of anything, however, my feet turned to the right and started taking me towards the edge of the ring.

" _What?! Wait, no! Stop!"_ The feeling of having no control over my body overwhelmed my senses, and the futility of trying to resist became readily apparent. " _I can't fight this, there's no way. I'm going to lose in... the first match and I... was barely able to show... what I could do. Not to mention... how disappointed Hannah's going to be."_ All I could do was watch as my feet carried me closer to elimination.

" _I'm such an idiot."_

As I felt my hope leaving me, one of the doors leading out of the arena appeared to darken as I approached the edge of the platform. Quickly, I began to see what looked like silhouettes, each with a set of glowing yellow eyes. There were eight of them, but I couldn't make any of them out, except...

" _Is that All Might?"_

At that moment, the clouds started to gradually clear from my mind, and for the first time, I began to feel like I actually had some sort of control. I didn't have much, but I quickly realized that I could actually move some fingers, at least a little bit.

"Come on, Midoriya! Don't let this guy show you up!" Wait, was that... Yumi? I hadn't even realized that I could barely hear the crowd, but now that I seemed to have some control over my body back, everything seemed to be almost muffled now.

"Deku! You can do this!"

"Midoriya! This a fantastic opportunity to promote yourself! Don't waste it!" Uraraka, Iida...

" _No. I can't just give up. Not when everyone is cheering me on."_ I quickly wiggled a couple fingers on my left hand, checking to see if I could still move them. " _Alright, I think I have an idea. I just need to concentrate."_

 **Hannah's POV**

I leant forward in my seat with my elbows on my knees, my right leg bouncing me up and down slightly as I watched Izuku walk towards the edge of the platform. Yumi and some of our other classmates had started cheering and shouting, but nothing seemed to be getting through to the boy. I kept hoping that he was just humoring Shinso, that this was all a joke and that he would turn around any second now. With every step he took, however, that hope drifted away.

As Izuku lifted his foot one more time to step out of bounds, a sudden and powerful blast rocked the arena where he stood, shaking the stands slightly.

"Izuku!" Dust and debris rose up and obscured my vision as I hurriedly jumped to my feet and leant against the guardrail, my eyes quickly scanning the battlefield hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy. My heart began to race as the seconds ticked by and the dust almost refused to clear, my anxiety growing the longer I couldn't see him.

Finally, after what felt like a couple of minutes at least, the dust began to settle. I could see through the cloud Shinso, covering his head with his arms, looking towards where Izuku had been with a look of severe confusion on his face. I thought that explosion had been his doing, but it didn't look like he was even expecting it to happen. Had something else happened?

Suddenly, Izuku exploded from the cloud of dust in a fury, making a beeline for the purple-haired boy. The crowd likewise came alive as Shinso had to quickly backpedal to avoid a wild swing from his opponent, then ducking to barely avoid a kick that surely would've taken his head off.

"W-What the hell?! You're not supposed to be able to fight back! What did you do?!"

Izuku ignored the question and instead answered back with a vicious right hook to Shinso's ribs. The boy immediately cried out in pain and staggered back, then tried to respond with some offense of his own, shooting a shaky punch at Izuku that was dodged and almost casually pushed away. This knocked Shinso off balance and caused him to fall into a swift knee to the gut, driving the air from his lungs. He slumped to his knees clutching his stomach, coughing and wheezing, as he looked up at Izuku.

"I've... ugh... always been at a big disadvantage... with how my Quirk works. But someone... as blessed as you... wouldn't understand that." He shakily got to one knee. "You're lucky to have... a heroic Quirk! It'll be so easy... for you to reach your goal!"

Shinso slowly got back to his feet, but Izuku never let him get his bearings. He connected with a lightning quick kick to Shinso's stomach, sending the boy back to his knees, before another kick to the jaw laid him out on his back. The smack of the attack landing resounded throughout the arena, the crowd reacting with a mix of shock and applause as Izuku stood ready and waiting for his opponent to rise. Shinso never did.

Midnight hopped down from her perch at the side of the arena and casually made her way over. She hunched down by Shinso and put a couple fingers on his neck, holding out a hand towards Izuku telling him to stay put. After a few seconds, she took her hand away and stood up.

"Shinso is KO'd. Midoriya advances to the second round!"

The crowd erupted around us as I relinquished my grip on the guardrail and slumped back into my seat, running my hands through my hair in nervous relief. Yumi and Mina quickly joined the rest of our class and the crowd in raining cheers and applause onto Izuku, who slowly lowered himself to the ground and sat down with his legs out in front of him, his arms resting on his knees. He looked around at the crowd for a few seconds before laying back on the ground and letting out a large sigh.

As he got up and headed over towards where Shinso was now sitting, Midnight having successfully woken him up, I couldn't help but think back to before the match, when Itsuka came to warn us about Shinso. She had made it sound like it was over once he got you, but Izuku managed to find a way to break free. I wanted so badly to find her and question her, but I knew she wouldn't have any answers, and neither would Izuku.

"Hannah? Hellooo, anyone home?" I was suddenly snapped back to reality by a hand waving in front of my face. Looking around quickly, I noticed Yumi and Mina looking over me with slight concern on their faces.

"Are you alright, Han? Thought you'd be off to go see Midoriya by now."

"What? What do you mean?"

Yumi gave me an incredulous look. "You really didn't notice? Midoriya and Shinso both left the arena, they're on their way to Recovery Girl's office. Present Mic and Aizawa even said something about it."

Looking out towards the arena, I quickly saw that she was right. I had been so wrapped up in my own thoughts, I'd completely zoned out. I couldn't help but mentally smack myself as I turned back to face the two girls, a light blush adorning my cheeks. "Oh, wow, I didn't even realize. I was too busy spacing out, heh. Sorry."

"No worries, Han. Get going, he'll be waiting for ya."

 **VVVVV**

Once I made it back to Recovery Girl's office, I sat outside on one of the benches and waited for the door to open, which would mean visitors were allowed inside. I couldn't help but feel at least a little anxious, despite knowing that Izuku wasn't even hurt... or, hurt that badly, anyway. It didn't look like he was hurt from where I was sitting, I figured it couldn't have been that bad. Thinking like that didn't help me feel any better, though.

My thinking was interrupted by the door to the office sliding open, startling me slightly as Shinso lazily walked out of the room. There was a small bandage on his jaw, and he was clearly favoring his ribs, probably still a little tender from the beating they took from Izuku. He grunted in discomfort before turning to his right, passing me as he gingerly made his way down the hall towards the arena.

He stopped a few feet away, however, and halfway turned around to look back at me. I felt him look me up and down as I glared back at him out of the corner of my eyes, silently daring him to talk to me. The silence stretched on for another few seconds before he turned back around and continued walking, disappearing around the corner soon after.

I leaned back against the wall and released a breath I had no idea I had been holding. I just felt so tense around Shinso, now that I knew how his Quirk worked. It felt like he was just going to take control of you and use you to do his bidding and all that. I mean, I'm sure he could control who he brainwashed and when, but it didn't help me feel any better about interacting with him.

"Hannah?" I felt someone poke my cheek, causing me to almost jump out of my skin. Quickly turning to see who it had been, a small blush crossed my cheeks as I laid my eyes on Izuku, very clearly amused with the reaction he'd gotten from me.

"Izuku!" I jumped to my feet and threw my arms around the boy, not even thinking that he may be in a cast or something. However, those worries were erased when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me in reply, holding me to his chest as if protecting me from something. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." He held up his left hand, letting me see that two of his fingers were bandaged. "I had to break my fingers to break Shinso's control. Nothing Recovery Girl couldn't fix, though."

I quickly looked at him, confused. "Wait... how do you remember what happened? Itsuka said that she couldn't remember anything from when Shinso was controlling her."

"Honestly..." He paused and rubbed the neck of his neck. "I don't even really know what happened. It was... some kind of vision, I think. I couldn't think straight before it happened, but when it did, everything was clear and I could move my fingers, at least a little bit.

"I was hoping to talk to All Might about it, but I don't know where he is." He looked over my shoulder down towards the other end of the hall, probably hoping to see the aforementioned hero.

I tried to ignore the fact that there was yet another question that didn't have an answer. "Was he not in the teachers' seats?"

"He was when I looked up there in the arena. I texted him on my way here, but he should've been here by now. I hope nothing's happened" He looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed, reaching up to scratch his head. "In any case, we should start heading back. The next match will be starting soon."

"Really?" I looked up at the clock to affirm his statement for myself, my eyes widening slightly once I saw the time. "Wow, I didn't realize time went by so fast." I looked back at him and took hold of his hands. "Why don't we go scout out the competition, huh?"

I saw his eyes light up and a smile crossed his face. "Yeah, definitely! There's so many Quirks that I've been wanting to see in action!"

I couldn't help but chuckle as we started down the hall, hand in hand. "Only you, Izuku."

 **VVVVV**

Unbeknownst to us, however, just a couple seconds after we turned the corner, a frazzled looking All Might came to a stop at Recovery Girls' door. His shoulders heaved and his side ached as he tried to regain his breath, the nurse herself turning in her chair to look at the pro hero.

After a couple more breaths, All Might straightened up and looked at Recovery Girl. "Was Young Midoriya here...? I got caught up by a friend." A small, unamused glance towards the other end of the hall told Recovery Girl all she needed to know. She shook her head in response.

"You just missed him. He left just a minute ago with Mrs. Sato."

He cursed silently under his breath. "I hope what he wanted to talk about wasn't too important."

"He never said anything to me or his girlfriend, so I can't help that much."

"That's fine, Chiyo." He took a step back and sighed, turning to walk back down the hall. "I'd better start heading back. Otherwise, the media will find a way to spin me being gone into another story."

 **VVVVV**

It took us a couple of minutes to navigate our way back to the stands, but we managed to climb the stairs up to the student seats just as Present Mic's voice began blaring over the speakers to announce the next fight.

"Enough standing around! Now welcome to the ring, our next players!" Pillars of fire roses from the corners of the platform, seemingly brought up by the cheers of the crowd. "He's got skills! But at the expense of some really creepy-looking elbows. From the hero course, it's Hanta Sero!" Another cheer followed, quickly interrupted by the pro hero.

"Versus, an early frontrunner in the competition who's way too strong for his own good! Someone who rightfully got into the hero course based on recommendations! He's the son of the #2 pro hero, Endeavor! It's Shoto Todoroki!"

I let out a small sigh as Izuku and I took our seats, our classmates joining the crowd in welcoming the two to the arena. "Todoroki versus Sero... I can't help but feel like this'll be one sided."

"I dunno. I wouldn't be surprised if Sero has a couple tricks up his sleeve. He might be able to pull off an upset if he's quick."

"Even if he can, I think Todoroki's too good with his ice. It'll probably be over quickly."

"Good god, Han. You're starting to sound like Midoriya." Yumi leaned forward to look at us past Mina, the pink girl appearing to have gone and gotten herself something to drink while I was gone. She raised the mouth of the bottle to her lips as Izuku stopped and chuckled nervously, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uhh... is that a good or bad thing?"

"No, it's a good thing!" She leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs. "It goes to show how close you two have gotten."

"I think it's pretty cute!"

Ochako suddenly appeared in between Yumi and Mina, startling both girls. The pink girl sputtered and brought a closed fist to her mouth, tears quickly appearing in the corners of her eyes. A couple painful-sounding coughs racked her body as Yumi quickly came to her aid, putting a hand on her back and gently patting as we looked on in concern.

Once the coughs subsided, Mina took a couple breaths and wiped away the tears in her eyes, then turned to look at Ochako, giggling.

"Uraraka, that was poorly timed, but I loved it..." We all let go of a collective gasp, the mood physically lightening as Yumi shook her head and wrapped an arm around Mina's shoulders, bringing her into a bit of a half-hug.

"You're a dork..."

"And now, for the second match of the finals! Ready?" We turned our attention towards the arena, Present Mic pausing to let the anticipation build amongst the crowd.

"Begin!"

It was then that another chill ran through the air, similar to the one's I felt during the cavalry battle, causing goosebumps to appear on my arms. Todoroki raised his right foot and brought it back down to earth, a large wave of ice shooting from under his shoe. It immediately encased Sero and removed him from view. It grew to the level of our seats in seconds and continued upwards, blocking off our view of the arena completely. Eventually, the sounds of ice grinding and scraping against itself stopped, and the stadium was filled with stunned silence.

"Sero has been immobilized! Todoroki advances to the second round!" Midnight's voice cut through the silence, almost like a hot knife through butter. After a couple more seconds of silence, the first tentative claps came from somewhere in the stadium, slowly growing to include most of the crowd.

Izuku and I sat in silence, both of us trying to process what we just witnessed. The match hadn't even really started before it was already over. It seemed so effortless, Todoroki didn't even really have to move.

I let out a sigh before looking towards the boy next to me. "Izuku..."

"I know..." He gave a sigh and ran his hands through his hair. "I'll be facing Todoroki in the second round..." We sat quiet for a couple more seconds before I reached over and grabbed his hand, causing him to look at me.

"Izuku." I looked at him and flashed a smile. "Just do your best. You don't need to win, just show everyone what you can do."

"That's true. It's easy to forget in a competition like this, but, ultimately, we're here to be scouted by Pro Heroes. Even if you don't win, you can still sell yourself just by showing off what you can do with your Quirk."

I nodded my head in agreement as the massive ice wall in front of us slowly started melting away, Todoroki using his left side to help speed up the process. "Of course, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to win."

"Definitely." He squeezed my hand and smiled back at me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer as the ice was finally cleared away. Todoroki quietly made his way towards the exit, Sero having been unfrozen before anything else, and disappeared into the tunnel. I thought to myself briefly that he seemed almost... distracted... as he left, but I put it to the back of my mind and laid my head on Izuku's shoulder as Present Mic started hyping everyone up for the next match.

 **VVVVV**

I tried to relax as my match with Momo got closer, but ultimately, it was futile. I was about to appear on TV, in the UA Sports Festival that I, myself, had watched ever since I could remember. My mom, along with Izuku's mom, were at home watching on TV, probably recording the entire event to keep as a family heirloom or something. Izuku seemed to notice my growing anxiety, and had started calmly running his hand through my hair as the matches went on.

Yumi and Mina's match didn't give me much time to think, either. It seemed ironic that they had been matched up against each other, they seemed so close that I almost didn't think they would fight when the match began.

That changed quickly, though. Yumi went on the offensive early and never looked back, peppering Mina with a flurry of kicks. What offense Mina was actually able to get in was blocked, dodged or countered. The constant onslaught eventually pushed Mina to the edge of the arena, before Yumi feigned another kick that caused Mina to flinch and accidentally step out of bounds.

Despite the anti-climatic finish, the crowd seemed to enjoy the display of Yumi's fighting prowess, clapping and cheering as the two girls embraced and walked out of the arena together, Mina limping ever so slightly as Yumi helped her into the tunnel. They were probably in Recovery Girl's office by now, but that was honestly the least of my worries.

Now, I was pacing back and forth in front of the door Class 1-A's waiting room, having left the stands as Yumi and Mina were leaving the arena. Izuku didn't follow me, not wanting to be a distraction, but it was only now that I noticed how much his presence had helped keep me calm. Pacing back and forth was about all I could do to make sure I could think clearly.

"Now, let's not let this hot streak cool! Time to move on to the sixth match!" My nerves shot through the roof once I heard Present Mic's voice ring along down the tunnel. I let out a long, slow sigh before I turned around and started towards the arena, the cheers from the crowd slowly growing louder and only adding to my anxiety.

"She may look sweet and nice, but beware... she took out one of our giant robots with just one punch! From the hero course, Hannah Sato!"

I took as deep a breath as I could muster and stepped out into the arena. The noise of the crowd hit me like a freight train, and as I made my way across the grass towards the stairs leading up to the platform, I couldn't help but look around me. There had to have been hundreds of thousands of people here, and it seemed that every one of them was cheering. Thousands of flashes were going off amongst them, and I even heard a couple of fans near the tunnel entrance shouting my name.

I realized that this was a completely different atmosphere than the obstacle course or the cavalry battle. Every pair of eyes were on the Finals. Every pair of eyes were watching now. Every pair of eyes would be on Momo and I, for however long our match lasts. I took another breath and quickly looked up towards my classes' section of stands, and managed to spot a speck of green where Izuku was supposed to be sitting. He seemed to be watching intently, an idea that put a smile on my face as I hurriedly climbed the stairs.

"Versus, the great creator! She was admitted because of recommendations and I think we can all see why. Also from Class 1-A, Momo Yaoyorozu!"

Another round of cheers resounded around the arena as my classmate made her way out of the tunnel on the other side of the arena. Quiet confidence emanated from her as she climbed the stairs... and it was only then that I realized that I had no strategy. I had been too busy worrying about actually being in the Finals to even start thinking of one. And knowing Momo, she would definitely have a plan of how to deal with me.

I couldn't let Momo use her Quirk. I knew that for sure. Best way to do that was to end the match as quickly as possible. Setting my feet, I felt the familiar tickling of electricity flowing through the muscles of my legs and along my skin as I sat waiting for Present Mic to signal for the start of the match.

"Sixth match... begin!"


End file.
